Starbreak Effect: Rise of the Hero
by ShepardisaBOSS
Summary: A new world. Incredible powers. A forgotten past. Relentless enemies. A staggering destiny. And I'm unlucky enough to deal with it all. Fortunately, I won't stand alone. But will my presence and allies familiar and new be enough to change destiny? Or will I too fall victim to fate's cruel design? Rated T for violence and language. AU. SI/Tali.
1. Prologue, Pt 1

**Author's Note: I would like to start by giving thanks to the authors of my favorite self-insert stories of Mass Effect; GIRLIKESTACOS, claihm solais, VanguardThorne, you guys rule! I decided to dedicate this self-insert to them (especially GIRLIKESTACOS). Secondly, I'm aware that the beginning can be slow to get into the actual ME universe, but trust me, it will get there, so please bear with me.**

**Also, I have decided to do a bit of editing for this chapter. To those who have read this before, you'll know it when you see it.**

**And now, without further delay, let us begin...**

* * *

**Prologue, Pt. 1: Nice to Meet You**

* * *

_(Darkness. Nothing but darkness. The only source of light that can be seen comes from the Milky Way galaxy)_

They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. They forgot to mention that you can't hear anything else in space. Not the creaking of metal or bones. Not the sound of your breath. Not even your own heartbeat. This is the worst kind of silence. And I'm smack dab in the middle of it.

_(A lone figure, bruised, bloodied, and torn, hurtles towards the galaxy, and the enormous portal, about the size of a planet, directly in front of the figure. A portal that is rapidly closing)_

That's me, by the way. The guy who looks like he picked a fight with a pack of wolves. Actually, what I just fought was a million times worse. I fought the closest thing to a living god. A god that wanted nothing more than to kill. A Reaper. And as you can tell, it did a number on me.

Now I'm flying through dark space, desperately trying to get through a rapidly shrinking portal.

Oh yeah. And I'm also trying to outrun an explosion.

_(A blinding light, rapidly expanding, rushes to meet up with the figure. The heat is so intense, one might mistake it for a sun)_

Obviously, this is not how I planned this fight to work out. Then again, there are a lot of things that didn't work out the way they were supposed to. Eden Prime. Noveria. Virmire. And nearly everything in between.

The heat's becoming really intense. I think I might die out here. Well, at least I was able to save the others. But I can't help thinking about the others that joined me in the Battle of the Citadel.

Natasha.

Steve.

Wrex.

Django.

Garrus.

Rika.

Ashley.

Malak.

Kerry.

Bronson.

Kaidan.

Liara.

Anderson.

John.

Tony.

Anna.

Joe.

Jondam.

Tela.

Kai Leng.

Tali.

_Tali..._

_Well, if I'm gonna die, at least I managed to die beating the living shit out of you, Sovereign. Suck on **that**, you arrogant fuck._

_(The light quickly catches up to the figure. Suddenly, time seems to slow down, enough to make it look like one is travelling at a snail's pace)_

Now, they also say that before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. This seems to be the case. However, it seems that for things you don't particularly want to focus on, those parts just pass you by. But my attention goes to one memory in particular. From there, my entire time with the _Normandy_ plays out. From that memory, I watch the story unfold.

That memory was me, waking up in a laboratory...

* * *

The sound of a rocking explosion wakes me from my slumber, albeit reluctantly. A blinding white light hits me as I open my eyes, causing me to close them instinctively.

"_Guardian. Guardian, are you awake?"_

The voice on the intercom is female, and she sounds honestly concerned. Hell, worried more like.

As my eyes adjust to my surroundings, I find myself in what appears to be a laboratory, filled with operating equipment and God knows how much tech. I get up sluggishly from what I now see as an operating table when I find an IV in my arm. I slowly remove it, causing me great discomfort.

"_Guardian, if you can hear me, press the blue button by the door."_

I look around for a door, then head over to a keypad built into a scanner. As my thumb presses down, a high-pitched beeping fills the room, causing me to wince in pain. Obviously I had yet to adjust my senses.

The voice sighs in relief. _"Oh, thank the maker. I thought they had finally got to you. Okay Guardian, listen up because I'm __not__ repeating myself. There's some armor I had specifically designed for ya. Head to the locker on the other side of the room and put it on. I'll try to buy you some time. When you're fully suited up, press the button again"_

As I groggily walked to the locker, I took the time to realize that the voice had an accent to it. European, possibly Scottish. I couldn't tell due to a) the distortion the intercom was creating and b) my senses were still out of whack. What I could tell was one thing: from the way she was speaking to me, coupled with the rumbling that woke me up, she was obviously in danger. Which meant I was also in danger.

At this realization, I quickened my pace and opened the locker. Inside my sight was immediately drawn to a golden helmet, with the eyeholes holding tinted glass. For some reason, there was no mouthpiece. The rest of the armor, apparently from some company called _Rosenkov Materials_, was white, with light blue accents tracing the armor. In the middle section of the chest plate was a vibrant gold stripe curving downwards from the top, along with the gauntlets and boots. After 30 minutes of struggling to get the armor on properly, I notice two unusual items in the locker.

The first item I take out is a golden metallic rod about 14 inches long with a small blue switch on the side. I shrug and secure it into a narrow compartment on my right thigh, obviously designed to hold the rod. After taking out the second item, I notice that it is a golden disc about 18 inches in diameter, with a high tech glove-like device attached to it. Placing it on my left arm, I find something that puts a light in my eye and a grin on my face: a freaking grenade launcher, complete with additional ammo. I immediately notice that the launcher is golden, with white lines accentuating the badass weapon. _Geez,_ I thought, _someone really likes the color gold. Oh well, at least I have something to shoot with._

After placing the ammo into the heavy launcher, I press the blue button again. This earns me another cringe worthy beep. _Okay, maybe my senses were heightened. That would definitely explain why that __**STILL FREAKING HURTS!**_

"_Well you sure took yer sweet time! Look, I don' have a lot o' time, so I'll have ta give you the short story. Yer in a secret research facility, strictly of the books. You can tell by the rumblin' however, that we've been discovered, possibly by an enemy of ours. This person had someone hack into our defense network an' made the security drones go bloody bonkers, shootin' anything that has a pulse."_

Hearing this, my eyes go wide with shock. These people were being attacked. By fucking robots. _God, what is this, the world of Terminator…actually, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. _

"_Now," _she says, _"it wouldn't be fair ta throw you out there with jack shit of a clue on what at do, so I'll explain the items that no doubt confused you. The rod's an experimental energy sword, capable of cutting through kinetic barriers like a hot knife through butter. The discus on yer arm is also experimental tech, a cyclonic energy shield. Theoretically, it should be able ta take a round from a dreadnought an' still maintain integrity. _

At that point, I'm officially weirded out. **WHY** in the **WORLD** would I need a freaking sword and shield against freaking **ROBOTS**?! Granted, these tools do sound completely and totally badass, but you get my point.

"_Also, the pistol an' grenade launcher pack one helluva wallop, so be sure to have a good grip, an' use __both __o' yer hands when holding 'em. Unless, o' course, you like havin' dislocated shoulders," _she says with a playfully sarcastic tone. _Wait a minute, did she say pistol? _I turn around and look into the locker again. There wasn't a handgun to be found anywhere. If she still thinks the gun is here, that means someone took it from the locker…before the attack started.

Great. Just. Fucking! **GREAT!** Now someone is running around with a super-powered pistol with possibly no idea how powerful the recoil is. Even worse, this person could be the one who started the attack, and he/she _does_ know how to use it.

"_The door should be open now, so follow the glowin' arrows, they'll lead ya right to the hangar so we can git the fuck outta here. Also, press the button on the right side a' yer helmet, it'll activate yer scanners and HUD. Wouldn't wanna walk into a fight blind, would ya? Good luck, Guardian. Kerry out!"_

So, her name's Kerry, huh. I wonder if her face is as cute as her voice. If so, I just know I'm gonna be stuttering around her like-

_**BOOM!**_

The sudden explosion rocks the entire room, snapping me out of my train of thought. _Right. Focus, Guardian, focus…I really hope that's just a codename._

As I holster the launcher on my back and step outside the lab, I press the button on the helmet, allowing a radar to appear in the bottom right corner of my vision and what I am dubbing a "shield bar" to appear on the top. Walking down a hallway, a thought suddenly hits me: I don't remember my own name. I don't remember anything about my life before today, except for vague images and clear bits and pieces.

Coming to the end of the hallway, I hear noises from the other side of the door. My HUD shows two blue dots and a lot of red dots. Clearly not a good sign. Walking through, I'm greeted with a sight that doesn't surprise me at all: a firefight.

In a rather large lobby, I find two guys huddled behind a chest high wall as a group of security robots empty their clips at them. The mechs, stark white with a singular red "eye," are so focused on the two behind the wall that they don't even notice my arrival. Taking full advantage of this opportunity, I take cover behind the entrance and unhook the rod.

Holding both ends away from me just in case, I press the switch and the top of the left side splits perfectly in half, instantly creating a beam of sky blue energy in the shape of a double-edged blade. This makes me jump back a bit from shock, which quickly dissolved into a fan boyish excitement, with the grin to match. _Oh, man. This is bitchiiiiing!_

I then close the gloved hand slowly, from pinky finger to thumb. After making a fist, the disc hums to life and splits apart, energy expanding to create a shield that reminds me of a Gungan energy shield, except the top was straight, the bottom was pointed, and the energy was the color blue instead of purple. _Yeah, okay, I think I'm starting to like this stuff._

Deciding that it was time to give these guys a helping hand, I leap out from behind the door, charge toward the mechs and scream at the top of my lungs a battle cry that came from a sudden flash from my past. A battle cry from a television show that just seemed to fit this moment oh so well.

**"BOOYAKASHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

At this point, the mechs turned towards me, but it was too late. I slammed the shield across the closest one's face area, stunning it long enough for me to drop my blade right into its metallic head, splitting it open like a watermelon. A shot then grazes past my head, forcing me to spin my shield around and put myself on the defense. This, however, bought the other two guys the chance to open fire on the rest of the bots.

Quickly noticing one of the mechs aiming a sniper rifle in the general direction of the two, I think fast and throw my sword right at its face, quickly ending the would-be sniper. I immediately start running to reclaim the blade when another mech drops in front of me. This one seemed a bit bulkier compared to the other mechs, and was differently colored from the other mechs, mostly black with patches of white and yellow stripes. Its most defining feature was on its face, having four "eyes" instead of one. Unfortunately, I learned it was also faster, as it quickly took out a shot gun and closed the distance between us instantly. Shielding myself from the widespread shots, the robot immediately generated an orange energy blade from its arm and lunged at my stomach.

I barely managed to dodge it, though it managed to make a small cut in my right side. Rolling aside, I sprinted toward the mech with my sword in its head as fast as my legs could go. Hearing the advanced mech gaining on me, I quickly lunged forward and wretched the blade out. I barely had enough time to turn around to face the killing machine. After another brief flash of memories, I then stepped forward and proceeded to turn its head into a scrap iron shish kabob.

Breathing heavily, I let the dead robot fall to the floor beside me. In a sudden burst of adrenaline, I burst out as big of a whoop as my vocal cords would allow and started to do a victory dance, complete with Michael Jackson's 'moonwalk.' As I spun around on the fronts of my feet, I realize that I'm not alone. I slowly turn my head to the left and found the two guys I saved, most likely staring in awe at what I had done and confusion at my sudden dance. As one of them stepped forward, I quickly straighten up in embarrassment and take a look at him. The man wore a black trench coat over black armor with a skeletal design on the chest plate. His leather mask, covered by a black hood, was patterned to look like a skull, with red lights glaring from the eyeholes. _Okay, if this guy is trying to pull of a Grim Reaper look, then all he's missing is a-_

He then pulls a large energy scythe out of one of the metallic corpses, earning a chuckle from me. Oh man, this is hilarious.

"Okay," said the man I decided to label 'Reaper,' "that had to have been **the** most badass close combat kill I've **ever** seen." His voice was stern, yet compassionate. From his accent, I assumed he was from the Middle East. "Where did you learn that?"

The other man, clad in black with grey gauntlets, boots, and a big orange X on his chest walked up to his partner. He wore a mask that looked like a cross between an "Army of TWO" helmet and Deathstroke's mask. Strapped to his back was an actual broadsword and an assault rifle, holstered to his side was an SMG, and he had a leather pouch that held a bunch of grenades.

"Are you kidding me? He pulled that move straight out of 'Attack the Block!' Granted, it was still a bitching kill, but still! I will give you props for it though, totally badass. However, you would have been seriously fucked if you missed that Rampart mech's head. By the way, that sword and shield looks **'awesome!'** Would you mind giving them to me, I would really like to use-"

**"My God, Deadpool! Shut the hell up!"** exclaimed 'Reaper' annoyingly. At that, Deadpool instantly fell silent. Apparently, 'Reaper' was the one who was in charge of the duo. "Sorry about my partner, he just doesn't know when to just shut his pie hole."

I nodded my head in agreement. Something told me that I would disturbingly get used to this guy's nonstop chatter if I hung around him long enough. Either that or snap and put his decapitated head on a spike.

"No problem," I said. "I'm just glad that I was able to save you guys. Who are you, anyway?"

Deadpool immediately lightens up and speaks in a jovial manner "We, my good sir, are the two man mercenary band known as 'Angels of Ruin!' We are a strictly moral driven group, meaning we don't take on jobs that conflict with our morals. This includes wanton killing, torture, protecting corrupt people, using biological weapons, murdering innocent people, and/or hate crimes. Anyone has a problem with that, we slice of their limbs and feed them to a varren. If the job we take on is for a noble cause, we work for free. Which is what lead me and my compadre to this job. When we heard about it, I swear that my jaw must've went straight though the fl-"

**"SHUT UP!"** I yelled. "**God**, your friend is right to call you Deadpool, you are just like him! Except, of course you're more of a likable guy, whereas your namesake is a complete prick."

My sudden outburst really did the trick, as the two of them stood there dumbstruck. Before they could say anything, I saw one of the walls open up, revealing an enormous mech, easily twice, maybe three times bigger than the other mechs. It raises its arms, both being cannons, and aims them at 'Reaper' and 'Deadpool.'

**"LOOK OUT!"**

With my cry ringing out in the room, I pushed the two away and charged toward the heavy mech. I didn't have a plan to deal with the thing. I didn't know what to do. I simply focused on the mech, my only thoughts being that I was going to beat the living shit out of it.

Suddenly, I'm surrounded with a brilliant golden light, and I lunge forward, the world flashing before my eyes. I suddenly crash through 8 walls, stopping my trajectory with an impact on the ninth wall and slide down, earning an audible grunt. As I open my eyes, I look straight at the mech and immediately notice my handiwork. My handiwork being a big fucking hole where its chest used to be, followed with gaps where walls once stood. With a loud creaking, the mech fell dead to the floor.

I then limp back to where the Angels of Ruin stood, completely dumbstruck at my performance. 'Reaper' was the first to speak up. "How did you-that was-you just-and the-I don't-"

"You just tore through a YMIR mechs and **eight fucking walls**!" cried out Deadpool. "Plus, your biotics were **golden!** Just **WHO** the **FUCK** are you?!"

I smile weakly and answer "I go by the name Guardian." Glancing at the carnage in my wake, I continued "As for the damage, that was uber badass. And my _what_ is golden? What are you talking about?"

Tilting their heads in confusion, I can tell the two are looking at me like I'm an idiot. "Your biotics?" answered Deadpool. "You know, the ability to influence dark energy with your fucking **mind**?"

Now **I'm** looking at him like **he's** the idiot. Granted, he seems to act like one, but still. "Yeah, I know what they are, but biotics only exist in-"**  
**

Suddenly, I get hit with a disturbing realization as it all comes together.

_Biotics?_

_Dark Energy?_

_YMIR and LOKI mechs?_

_Cyclonic energy shields?_

_Rosenkov Materials?_

_BIOTICS?!_

I stand there in front of them, completely in shock. I somehow managed to get out the last five words. Five words from my shocking, somewhat disturbing realization.

"-the world of Mass Effect."

* * *

**(How's that for a first chapter? Anyway, please note that I do not own anything from Attack the Block, Army of TWO, or Mass Effect. I especially don't own the DC Comics character Deathstroke or Marvel's Deadpool. The only things I own are the original characters Reaper, Deadpool, and Kerry, as well as the armor designs and weapons my characters possess. Please review, but no flames. OR ELSE! Also, kudos to anyone who can guess from where I pulled Booyakasha from [please note that I do not own anything from that show either]. Also, if one of you could PLEASE tell me how to add more chapters to my fanfiction, it would be greatly appreciated)**


	2. Prologue, Pt 2

**Prologue, Pt. 2: Badasses**

* * *

_Deadpool's POV:_

* * *

"-the world of Mass Effect."

At those words, my mind went blank. _Did he just say what I think he just said?_

* * *

_"Reaper's" POV:_

* * *

I could tell they were both shocked beyond words. To be honest, I can't blame them for it.

I mean, this Guardian person just said the words 'Mass Effect' as if he was talking about a place. It would make sense that he would be stunned silent. And after everything that my friend had told me, the shock from hearing this new guy's words was only minor. After recovering from the shock, I groaned.

"Great, another one."

* * *

_Guardian's POV:_

* * *

"Reaper's" words immediately shook me out of my stupor. _Another one?_

"What do you mean by that, Reaper?"

That earns another groan from him. "First of all, my name isn't Reaper, it's Malak. While on the job, however, if you want to call me anything, call me Azrael. Second, what I meant was that you're the second person I've encountered who called this universe 'Mass Effect.' Now, I don't suppose you can explain what's going on, could you?"

At that, I allow myself a few seconds of shocked silence. _Okay, if I keep getting one shock after another today, I think my head's going to short circuit. _Shaking my head and deciding to deal with that later, I reply "All I know is that someone hacked into this facility's security network and made the robo mall cops here go bonkers. Other than that, I don't know much else. Hell, I don't even know where this place is."

Malak strokes his chin in contemplation, than looks at me. "In that case," he said, "we should probably stay close to us, seeing as we know our way around here. Do you have anything else to tell us?"

"Yeah, there was this girl, Kerry. When I woke up, she told me to head to the hangar to get out of here."

At that, Deadpool spoke up in a worried tone. "Kerry? She's still alive?"

I nod. "Alive, and somewhere in this place fighting off the mechs."

Deadpool then turns to Malak and says "Bro, we have to find her! She can barely hold off 5 LOKI mechs by herself, let alone an entire facility full of the bastards!"

Malak shakes his head in agreement. "Last I heard she was somewhere in Block 3. Fortunately, it's on the way to the hangar, so we can kill two birds with one stone."

"Well what are we standing around for?" I scream, "let's go!"

Raising my shield and priming my sword I run off to the closest door way. A few seconds later, I sheepishly walk back. "Um, where exactly is Block 3?"

One face palm later, Malak motions us to follow him. About 6 minutes later, we find ourselves in the remains of what is most likely Block 3. Walking through the wreckage, a voice with a Spanish accent suddenly breaks over the comms.

"_Check, check, this is Operative Carlisle, is anyone there? Hello? I repeat, this is Carlisle. Can anyone hear me? Hello?"_

Deadpool's left arm suddenly produces an orange holographic display which he brings up to his face. "This is Deadpool, Carlisle. Where are you?"

"_DP? Oh great, you're still breathing."_

"Yeah, nice to hear you too, buddy," he says sarcastically. "Now I repeat, where are you?"

"_I'm holed up in Lab 15. Operatives Camille, Ford, Zhang, Quan, and Crescent are dead, along with everyone from Divisions 1 through 14. Everyone from Division 15 is KIA except for Toshiro, Anton, Lucas, Alice, Alala, Donald, and Rufus. They're here with me. Don't know where the hell Kerry is, though."_

"Stay right where you are. I'll be right there with backup."

"_Unless you've got a shipload of mecs, I think we'll pretty much be screwed."_

"Don't worry. I've got Azrael and Guardian with me, so I think we can manage."

"_Guardian's still alive?! He should still be groggy from-never mind! Just get here quick. Anton and Alala are injured, we only have three working guns and 5 grenades left. I don't know how much longer we ca hold out! Hurry!"_

The transmission cuts out after that. For some reason, Carlisle's reaction to my presence was…less than happy. Shocked, even. Something tells me he might know something. First things first, though. We have to get to Lab 15.

* * *

As we made our way to the lab, a trio rampart mechs and a YMIR mech suddenly appear through openings in the floor, priming their weapons at the sight of us. Before the first shot rings out, we scatter and duck for cover.

Flexing my left hand's fingers in reverse order, the shield deactivates. After turning of my sword, I'm able to unlatch the grenade launcher and have it primed and ready by the time the YMIR mech is halfway next to me. I leap out from cover, take aim, and pull the trigger.

_**KABOOOOOOM!**_

The aftershock sent me flying across the room, resulting with a painful impact with a wall rushing to greet me. With a painful thud, I hit the floor. "Oooowww. Sonuva-"

As the blinding light from explosion dies down, I look at where the heavy mech once stood. My only thought at the sight was _HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS H. CHRIST!_

The colossal robot's upper half was completely incinerated, the only traces of its torso being smoldering scraps of metal laying around its scorched legs. The heat from the explosion was so intense that there was not only scorch marks on the floor five feet wide in radius, but there was still residual heat lingering in the air.

With a look of awe from the sheer epicness of the heavy weapon, I silently decide to christen my grenade launcher _Morning Glory._ It had a nice ring to it.

My joy is cut short as a rampart mech rises next to me. I try to reach for my sword, but my shoulder experiences a sudden jab of pain, refusing to move. I then mentally kick myself in the ass as I remember Kerry's warning: **USE BOTH HANDS WHEN USING THE GRENADE LAUCNHER.**

* * *

_Malak's POV:_

* * *

Recovering from the sudden explosion, I groggily allow myself a rare moment to curse. "What the fuck was that?!" I then remember "Guardian" raising what looked like a golden grenade launcher at the YMIR. I mentally strangle the gold and white armored warrior. _This__ is why I hate explosives, launch able or otherw-_

My train of thought is cut short as I look up and see a rampart mech standing over "Guardian," priming its shotgun.

"Allah, give me strength."

With this whispered prayer, I jump up and unlatch the four foot long metal pole from my back and press down on a button. The rod quickly extends to 10 feet, with a curved, sickly pale blue blade generating from the side on the top. With _Soul Breaker _fully activated, I used a biotic Charge and launched myself at the rampart. Leaping upward, I twirled my scythe around a few times before bringing the blade down to its neck.

I watched with grim satisfaction as the mech's head rolled to the floor. It was always fun to kill machines that couldn't think for themselves. However, this left me open long enough to allow a sudden burst of heat from the mech's body to overload my shields. _Well_, I thought, _isn't this peachy?_

Looking down at "Guardian," I reach down to help him up. "You need a hand, my frie-"

A sudden pain sears through me. As I numbly look down, I see an Omni-blade protruding from my guts. Retracting from my body, I fall in pain to the floor. I look up and somehow know that I am finished, as the last two ramparts stand above me, one pointing a shotgun at my head.

I close my eyes, ready to join Allah in paradise.

* * *

_Deadpool's POV:_

* * *

There are times when I'm totally awestruck by how completely badass Malak can be. His insta-kill on the rampart? Latest in a long line of moments.

Then there are times when I'm cruelly reminded that the man is mortal, just like the rest of us. The mechs getting ready to kill him were not helping me deal with that fact.

With the complete and utter destruction of the mechs filling my mind, my biotics flared up as I formed a lasso around the bots and pulled them towards me. The mech with the shotgun managed to pull the trigger before getting drawn backwards, but thankfully missed both Malak and "Guardian."

Drawing my broadsword, I send my biotics surging through the blade, swinging the cleaving weapon to their heads with extreme prejudice.

"**BAAANZAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIII!"**

The mechs reduced to smoldering scrap, I resheathe my sword while walking towards my two comrades. _No one's going to kill my brother. Not while I'm around._

* * *

_Guardian's POV:_

* * *

I watched in awe as Deadpool walked over to us like he _didn't _just epically kill two rampart mechs. What really surprised me was that both he and Malak could both use biotics. Which reminds me, how am _I _able to use biotics? I've never been exposed to element zero in my life!

"You two…are so…BADASS! That was arguably the most awesome thing I've seen in my amnesiac life!"

Deadpool looks up at this while applying a gel-like substance to Malak's wounds. "You're amnesiac?"

"Yeah, I can't remember a whole lot from before I woke up in that lab."

Malak groans. "Well, that's just fan-tucking-fastic. The guy we were hired to protect, and he doesn't even have any idea _why _he would need protection."

Even though he can't tell with the tinted eyeholes, I'm giving Malak the stink-eye. "You don't need to be such a dick about it man. I'm already hurting enough from shooting _Morning Glory _one-handed, I don't need you to make me feel worse."

At that, Malak looks down in shame. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get crabby. I lost quite a bit of blood from that stab wound."

The pool of blood at his feet confirmed his apology as genuine. "Hey, it's okay, man. To be honest, though, I thought girls got bitchy when they bled."

The room was filled with silence for 5 seconds. Then 10. After 15 seconds, we can't hold it in any longer and we laugh our asses off for a good 3 minutes. After getting our breath back (and after "Deadpool" applied another patch of "medigel" to Malak's wounds) and relocating me shoulder back to its proper spot, we set out again for Lab 15.

After 7 minutes of silence, I couldn't take it anymore. "Hey Ma-Azrael? I hate to be rude, but why do you use a scythe?"

He turned around and looks at me. "Because guns scare the shit out of me," he replied with a deadpanned answer.

Grinning like an idiot, I answer "I guess _Morning Glory _didn't help to disprove your fears, huh?"

"Damn straight."

At that point, both Deadpool and myself broke out with laughter. Regaining my composure, I turn to Deadpool and ask "If you don't mind answering, what's your real name?"

He answers jovially "My name's Joseph, but everyone calls me Joe."

"Good to know."

A shot grazes past my head, causing me to charge up my sword and shield in response. After Joe takes out his assault rifle and Malak activates his biotics, someone comes out from behind a barricade.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot! It's me!"

Judging from his Spanish accent, I'd say this man was Carlisle. He looked to be in his early 20's, with slicked back blond hair and a skin tone comparable to a surfer's complexion. The only visible flaw to be shown was a scar across his left eye. As he walked up to me, I noticed he was shorter than me, and I could remember that I was at least 5-foot-10.

"Dammit, Carlisle!" screamed Malak, "You could have killed him!"

"I'm sorry! I thought you were another pack of mechs. They've been coming here every other half-hour."

Believing we were safe, I put away my sword and put my free hand on his shoulder. "It's cool, man. You were just protecting yourself."

At this, he seemed to relax. This was good. If my suspicions were correct, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Walking into the makeshift fort, Joe asks "How are you guys doing?"

An large, older man, possibly in his forties, walks up to us. "Not so good, comrade. Only having one working gun and no grenades, we being lucky robots haven't be putting new holes in all our faces."

Okay, I hate playing into stereotypes, but at the moment, I'm going to assume the man speaking broken English is Anton.

"What do you mean by _all_, Anton?" Wow, I was right?

Hearing this, a girl no older than 16, with silver hair, a snow-white complexion, and ice blue eyes limps over to us. From the look on her face, she seemed ready to just break down. "What my father means is that soon after Carlisle contacted you, another wave of mechs hit us. We used up all of our grenades on them, and we had to use two of our three guns as makeshift explosives. Before that, though, Rufus and Donald ran out to buy us time. They're…they-"

She did her best to hold back her tears, but it was in vain. Malak walked over and held her close. "I'm sorry, Alice. I'm so, so sorry." He sounded like he was close to the verge of tears, too, his trembling a tell-tale sign of the rage he felt against himself.

"I loved them, Malak. I loved them so much. I-I-"

"I know."

Nothing was left to hold back her sorrow. She just collapsed and cried, not caring who heard. The cry of someone who had their heart torn out. A cry of despair.

I looked around outside the fort and saw them. Two men, laying dead next to the remains of a rampart mech. The closer one, whose nametag read Rufus, looked to be about 25, with close cropped, bright orange hair, and a goatee to match. Judging from the way the mechs around him were wrecked and his bulging muscles, he had used his strength to tear the rogue robots apart before he succumbed to numerous gunshot wounds. The other one, who I deduced to be Donald, looked to be of African-American descent, about 20 years old and had a small afro. He held in his hand a sharpened pipe, which he used to impale the mech's head as it had impaled him with on Omni-blade.

These two fallen warriors gave their lives to save the others. I may not have known them, but I will always remember that they died as heroes to protect their friends. To protect the woman who loved them.

Walking back inside, Joe introduced me to everyone. "Well, you know Carlisle Ramirez, our second-in-command for this outfit. And you've just met Dr. Komarov and his daughter, Alice." Looking at her now, she seemed to have calmed down a bit. I couldn't help but feel her pain.

"This man," Joe continued, "is Professor Toshiro Yamakawa, head of section 15. Next to him is Lucas O'Leary, Rufus' eldest son. And next to him is Alala Angeles, Donald's half-sister."

Toshiro appeared to be in his late 30's, with wrinkles on his face and bags under his eyes. He was of a bulky build, apparently liking to pig out every now and again. He had a lot of gauze covering his forehead, blood barely showing through. His eyes, black as coal, looked like the eyes of a dead man. _Can't blame the guy. Nearly everyone in his group died, and he couldn't do anything to save them._

Lucas looked to be about 15, with olive toned skin, shaggy red hair and a face peppered with freckles. His reflective glasses did little the red in his lime-green eyes. _Jeez, he watched as his dad was gunned down by mechs. I can't even imagine what this kid is going through right now._

Alala looked about 3 years older than her brother, with pin-straight hair reaching just past her ears. She was about Joe's height, probably 6-foot-3, with a scar across her neck. Unlike Lucas, she looked to be in control of her emotions, albeit barely. No matter what, she couldn't stop trembling. I couldn't help thinking that no matter how tough someone is, she had to let her emotions out eventually.

These six scientists, along with myself, Joe, Malak, and possibly Kerry, were most likely the last survivors of this facility. As I turned around towards Carlisle, I saw something in his hand the gun in his hand.

"Let me see that gun, Mr. Ramirez."

He looks up at me, a glint of fear in his eyes. "What?"

I jaunt over to him and grab the gun out of his hand. It looked like a Desert Eagle .50 semi-automatic pistol, complete with a clip of 6 out of seven bullets, the other bullet most likely being the one that grazed my head. The gun was colored gold, with light blue coloring the handle.

The final nail in the coffin was a symbol on the butt of the handle: a winged shield with a sun on it. The same symbol I found on the rest of my equipment.

I looked at the shivering Spaniard with a look of anger so fierce that it could probably make even Leroy Jethro Gibbs shit his pants in terror. "Where did you get this gun?" I asked with hatred seething from my voice.

"Wh-what d-d-do you m-mean?"

I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the wall. "**WHERE?!**"

At that, the room went silent. After 30 seconds of silence, Carlisle gave me a look of apology. An apology for a grave crime. "It…it wasn't supposed to happen this way. The mechs we-were only supposed to target y-you. Only you."

That sealed it. I had found the man responsible for the rogue mechs. The man who got nearly everyone he knew killed. And he was trying to fucking justify what he did.

"**YOU MONSTER! YOU FUCKING MONSTER!**" Alice tried to grab for Carlisle's neck, but Joe held her back. Everyone began to act up. Anton screamed in his native tongue at the admitted murderer. Lucas screamed at the top of his lungs as he begged Alala to let him avenge his dad and her brother. It took every ounce of willpower to stop herself from letting him go and joining him. Malak simply stood there in cold fury.

"**ENOUGH!**" I scream with enough fury to fill the Devil. At the sound of my fury, the room fell silent again, with only sobs of grief and anger heard. I then throw Carlisle against the wall. "You killed your own friends in an attempt to kill me. I should put a bullet in your head for this, you son of a bitch!"

To punctuate this, I raise my Desert Eagle .50 so the barrel is level with Carlisle's head. Tears roll down his eyes as my finger tightens. Then I place a bullet hole next to him.

"But that would be giving you the easy way out," I say, my voice dripping with venom. "You don't deserve that way. You'll be brought before a court of law. You will be tried and sentenced, most likely with life. As you sit in a cell for the rest of your miserable life, you can allow the weight of your actions to eat away at your soul. And when you have allowed your sins to eat away completely at your soul…then you will have my permission to die."

A shot rang out, followed by a splatter of blood erupting from the back of Carlisle's worthless skull.

We all turn towards the source of the shot. In the doorway was a woman in her late 20's wearing a skintight black leather cat suit holding a pistol. Her skin, the color of milk-chocolate, coupled with ruby-red irises, seemed to radiate with unbridled fury. Her short cut, wild black hair only helped to give her an air of anger.

"I'm sorry, Guardian. But the bastard deserved ta die right now, and ya know it."

It was her accent that softens me up a bit. "You must be Kerry, I presume?"

At this she calms down a bit. "Operative Kerry Lawson o' Cerberus, at yer service."

* * *

**(DUN-DUN-DUUUUUN! Looks like things are starting to get interesting. With the knowledge that someone was specifically trying to kill him, and the fact that he is most likely in a Cerberus facility, how will Guardian react? And when will he discover who he really is, and what he is supposed to do? Also, please note that I do no own ANYTHING from Mass Effect except for the original characters introduced in this chapter, Malak's kick-ass scythe, and Guardian's weapons, including the customized Desert Eagle .50 he found. Please review, but no flames. Flamers will be shot. Survivors will be shot 8 more times)**


	3. Prologue, Pt 3

**(A/N: I do not own Mass Effect or the characters from the franchise. Also, **идиот

**means idiot in Russian.)**

**Prologue, Pt. 3: Of Watchdogs and Hellhounds**

* * *

_Guardian's POV:_

* * *

For the probably umpteenth time in the past few hours, my mind is** totally **blown. The main reason for this occurrence? The fact that Kerry, the woman who saved my life was an operative of Cerberus. _**Cerberus.**_ The absolute last organization that I wanted to find myself in. With venom in my voice and eyes, I turn towards Joe. "You could have **told** me that we were in a Cerberus facility."

That seems to get the everyone in the room looking surprised that I already knew Cerberus existed.

Joe simply shrugged. "You never asked," he said sarcastically.

"Assclown."

"Hurtful, dude."

"And you," I say to Kerry, "**why **in the great blue **Hell **did you kill him?!" At that last word, I point to Carlisle's dead body, blood pooling out of the new orifice in his head and onto the stainless steel floor.

Kerry's face shakes of the look of shock and returns to an angry semi-scowl. "'Cause," she stated, "this man had ruthlessly murdered colleagues, friends, an' family. People whom we've all come ta trust over the past year, people we've all come ta love, dead because o' that piece o' garbage tried ta ruin what we were tryin' ta accomplish. He deserved death."

Her eyes shone with conviction in her words. She didn't regret what she had done. "Still though, we should have taken him in to answer for his crimes. Carlisle did deserve to die, even he knew that, but now we won't know if anyone hired him to play assassin. And if so, why try to kill only me?"

At that, Toshiro spoke up. "Because of the message." _Jeez_, I thought, _he sounds like he'll keel over at the drop of a hat._

"What message?" I ask.

"Perhaps," said Kerry, "it's best if the boss explains things."

I look at her with mistrust in my eyes. Deciding to play even more of my hand, I reveal a bombshell in the form of a question. "Answers or no answers, why would you believe that I'd willingly go to the Illusive Man?"

Once again, the room enters a state of shock. "How you be knowing of Illusive Man?" asks an incredulous Anton. Understandable. Only those in Cerberus (or those with really, **really** good sources of information) even knew the existence of the Illusive Man.

I decide to go with the latter. "Let's just say that I have my sources and leave it at that."

Everyone looks at me suspiciously. Alala decides to break the ice at this point. "Very well. But now we need to find a way to the hangar." _Dang, her voice sounds like velvet mixed into the growl of a tigress. From that alone, I could guess she could kick even a Banshee's ass in one-on-one. Mental note: do not get on her bad side._

"Owww..."

"What was that?" asked Malak.

Determining the source to have come from outside, I hurried out to see a sight that set my heart into joyful overdrive: a groaning Donald and Rufus, barely breathing but alive.

"They're alive," I quietly said. Running back into the fort, I excitedly screamed "**THEY'RE ALIVE! DONALD AND RUFUS, THEY'RE STILL ALIVE!**"

A second later, Alice, Lucas, and Alala ran outside with the rest of us close behind. Exiting the fort, we found Donald struggling to get the fallen mech off of him. Noticing us after pulling the mech's Omni-blade out of himself, he looked at us and said in between breaths "So...what did we miss?"

"Hopefully," replied a worn out Scottish voice, "enough to say the worst is over." Rufus looked at us with a shit-eating grin on his face and said "Right?"

"**DON! RUFUS!**"

"**DAD!**"

With those words escaping their mouths, Alice and Lucas ran over to the two of them and pulled them into a hug that made them wince in pain. Tears of joy freely flowed down their faces as they cried and held them tightly, afraid that if they let go, they would lose them again. Alala merely stood there, crying with a smile on her face.

"How?" asked Anton. "How you breathing? I checked both your vitals. You should both be pushing up your roses."

"It's daisies, Anton," replied Rufus as he held his son. "And to be honest...we were dead."

At that, the room fell silent with confusion. Joseph broke the silence and said with a brain dead voice "Ummm...wha?"

"Don't know how to explain it," said Donald as Toshiro got out some medigel, "but one minute we were on the other side. The next...a golden light shone in front of us. It was pulsating with emotions, as if it were alive. It blinded us, and then we were back he-OW! Watch it, Toshi!"

"Sorry. I'll **try** not to put life saving medigel on your wounds next time," he sarcastically replied.

_Wait. A golden light? Could that have been me?_ I decide to shake that question off for now, refocusing my attentions to the two recently revived men. "Well, I'm just glad you're okay. Seems like your deaths really hit these guys hard."

Giving me a nod, the two of them were led into the fort. As soon as they saw Carlisle's corpse on the floor, Donald said "So it was him. Knew there was something I didn't like...about..."

He fell to the floor wit Rufus close behind. Alice and Lucas rushed over to check, but Toshiro managed to calm them down. "Don't worry, they're fine. Just a reaction to the blood loss." Putting a red gel-like substance on their chests, he said "There. That should stabilize them for now."

"But what do we do now?" asked a nervous Lucas.

"We survive," replied Alala. "Like they would want us to do."

Alala then walked over to a console and pressed a few buttons, resulting in the room is bathed in flashing red lights. "There," she said_, _"I've started the facility's self-destruct sequence. We have twenty minutes to get to the hangar and scram."

Alice looks up with eyes filled with desperation and sadness. "What about Donald, or Rufus? We can't leave them here, we can't!"

"I'm sorry," said Alala, "but if we try to bring them with us, we'll only slow ourselves down, giving either the mechs or the self-destruct sequence an opportunity to finish us off."

The quivering in Alice's voice grows. "B-b-but…but-"

"I really am sorry, Alice. But the risk is too great."

Despair begins to set into the young girl again. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. "But that's my dad!" screamed Lucas. "And your brother!"

Alala turned to meet the young man's gaze. "And they would want us to survive. We bring them with us, we could lose the chance to escape here with our lives. I won't take that chance."

As everyone begins to argue, my mind begins to go into overtime. On one hand, Alala was right. We could lose precious time bringing Donald and Rufus with us. On the other hand, they would be left here to burn, never to be seen by their loved ones again. What to do? What to do? What to-

"_Which do you believe is the right choice?"_

A soft spoken voice, there but not there, echoes in my ears. My head shoots up to find the source, but I find that everyone is silently screaming at each other, divided into what should be done about Donald and Rufus. Alice, Lucas, Joe, and Kerry were all for bringing them with us. Alala, Anton, Malak, and Toshiro were all for leaving their comrades. Watchdogs against Hellhounds.

"_Which do you believe is the right choice?"_ asks the whisper again. The tone is more clear this time. It wants me to make a choice based on what I believe is right. The voice seems familiar though, somehow. Like I've heard it before.

It doesn't matter right now. The voice was right. I needed to make a choice. So I walked towards the bodies.

Everyone immediately notices. "What are you doing?!" yells Malak.

Lifting Donald's unconscious form up, I turned towards the group, determination glowing on my body. Unknown to me, my golden biotics were also glowing.

"Cerberus is supposed to be a watchdog of humanity. They're supposed to protect humanity to its dying breath," I say with conviction as I sling Donald's body across my shoulder. **"What use is Cerberus if it can't even protect two people, along with itself?!"**

* * *

_Malak's POV:_

* * *

His words resonate in my soul, stirring up memories long suppressed.

000

_As the batarians continued to raze Mindoir to the ground, I watch as a man in his late forties sifts through the wreckage of his house, looking for his family._

"_Forget it, Gaston! They won't make it"_

_He turns to look at me, conviction in his eyes. "They're still alive. And I promised my daughter that I would protect her kids for as long as they drew breath."_

_"They're both as good as dead! You know that!"_

_He runs up to me and grabs me by the collar. His French accent straining against his rage at my coldness. "I PROMISED TO PROTECT THEM, RIGHT UNTIL I DRAW MY LAST BREATH! WHAT GOOD WOULD I BE IF I COULDN'T EVEN PROTECT THEM ALONG WITH MYSELF?!"_

000

Gaston died in the end, along with his grandchildren, while I escaped with my life. But he kept his word. He protected the bodies of his grandchildren, even to his last breath. And Guardian was willing to do the same with Donald and Rufus.

_This guy…could he really…_

"Anton, Deadpool, you carry Rufus."

Toshiro looks at me in shock. "Are you crazy?!"

"Guardian's right," I reply evenly. "If Cerberus can't even save two people, then it doesn't deserve to be the protector of humanity."

Throwing his hands up in defeat, I watch as Toshiro heads over to the console. "We have 17 minutes until we're atomized. You better hope we can get out of here in time."

Guardian walks over with a triumphant grin plastering his exposed mouth. "Don't worry," he said, thankful for my support. "With all the mech corpses we saw on the way here, I think the worst is behind us."

* * *

_Guardian's POV:_

* * *

_**12 minutes to self destruct.**_

"**What was it you saying about worst behind past of us, идиот?!**"

As soon as Anton screams this, another rocket from one of the YMIR mechs launches past us. "**So I made a mistake! Sue me!**" I punctuate that last part with a quick report from my Desert Eagle .50, the round hitting the heavy mech right in the "face," causing it to fall to the ground dead.

Just so you know, it was **not **my intention to lead us into a room filled with **15 **heavy mechs, **45 **LOKI security mechs, and **7 **rampart mechs. I had honestly believed that every mech in the base was destroyed, but this firefight proved me wrong. However, between Deadpool's anti-electronic rounds firing from his Mattock assault rifle, Malak's Warp attacks, Kerry's prototype biotic grenade launcher (which fired duds every other shot), Alala's uber-badass **triple** barreled shotgun, Anton's prototype minigun, and Lucas and Alice's hacking abilities, we somehow managed to cut down the enemy count from 67 to 33 in three minutes.

"**Kerry!**" I yell. "**Get ready to open fire on my mark! Make sure it's a triple shot!**"

She nods in understanding, instantly figuring out what I have planned. Loading up three rounds and attaching a triple shot barrel onto the launcher, I yell out "**Azrael! Deadpool! On my mark, we go in hand to hand!**"

Malak and Joe look at me in confusion. "What are you-"

"**Ready!**" yells Kerry. A that, I place Donald into a safe corner of cover and take out _Morning Glory, _priming it for a shot. I signal to her to fire on the count of three.

"**Everyone get down!**" As soon as Kerry issued that command, everyone hit the deck as Kerry and I readied our shots.

"One…"

The mechs begin to close in.

"Two…"

They're almost on us.

"**THREE!**"

Kerry and I stand up, her firing a shot as I track the three grenades through the air. With determination, I cry out one word before firing.

"**BOOYAHKASHAAAAAA!**"

With a glorious gold and blue explosion and deafening _**BOOM**_, the 33 mechs are brought down to 16, consisting of 13 LOKI mechs and 3 rampart mechs. Looking over our cover, I call out to Malak and Joe that it's time to get to work.

Brining out my sword and activating my shield, I jump off the top of the chest high wall and land feet first on top of a LOKI, driving its head into the floor. Spinning around, I lob off the heads of two more of the security mechs as a rampart comes charging at me. I raise my shield up just in time to block the mech's Omni-blade from crashing into my skull. Pushing the arm upward, I'm able to give myself enough of a window to try and use my golden biotics to kick the mech into pieces. However, I only manage a regular kick in its chest, sending it stumbling backwards. I look at it in confusion. _What the…why didn't my biotics work?_

I'm brought out of my stupor from a shotgun round to the chest. As the blast sends me flying backwards, I'm thankful that Kerry was able to show me how to activate my armor's shield generator. If I didn't have it up, that shot would have torn my chest wide open. Landing with a thud, I struggle to regain my footing. The rampart mech charges forward with Omni-blades produced, ready to skewer me.

One eye-blink later, Malak's scythe swings through the mech's face, leaving the steel cadaver to land next to me just as it discharges heat. "**OW!**" I scream. "**YOU COULD HAVE JUST KILLED IT WHEN IT WAS STANDING STILL, ASSHOLE!**"

"True. But if I did, I wouldn't see you get burned." Oh, he did **NOT **just say that. _Mental note: get back at Malak for this._

The sight of the top half of a LOKI mech flying our way causes us to turn to Joe's direction. He's currently wielding both his Mattock **and** his broadsword, the scene making him look like a pirate. "**COME ON, YA SCALIWAGS! HAVE A TASTE O' ME SWASHBUCKLIN' AWESOMENESS!**" Okay, now he's just pushing it.

"Fun Fact: the 'Sword and Gun' technique is popularly used among pirates, cavalry, and highwaymen," he casually stated while fending off a group of six LOKI mechs and the other two rampart mechs. "However, back in the days when the guns were single-shot pistols, once you fired a round, the gun became nothing more than a small club." Placing two shots in the heads of three LOKI mechs (one going through two at the same time), Joe swung his blade through another mech's neck. "That's why many decided to carry multiple guns, that way they didn't need about thirty seconds or so to reload their pistols." Kicking down another LOKI, he discharged a round into its head and jabbed his blade through a rampart mech's "face." "As the 21st century came about, guns became capable of firing more than one round," he states as he uses his biotics to slice and dice the last rampart mech and unload several shots into his last LOKI, "but the sword became replaced with a machete, so-"

"**SHUT THE FUCK UP!**" I was honestly surprised that everyone in the room, myself included, said that simultaneously. Joe muttered something in dejection, then proceeded to sheathe his blade and holster his Mattock.

A though dawns on me. "Wait, where are the other LO-" Malak points me into the direction of several minced-up mechs, their cuts sill smoking from the scythe. "Whoa. Well, shit, you work fast." I can't tell through his skull mask, but I'm sure he's smiling.

"If you're all finished," exclaimed Toshiro, "we really need to get to the hangar. Now!"

I check the timer on Malak's Omni-tool.

_**Nine minutes to self destruct.**_

At that, I run over to retrieve Donald, and we all proceed to run like the dickens to the hangar. We reach a large room, with a door on the far side. One word is printed on the side.

HANGAR.

As we break out into a sprint, I check my HUD for any hidden enemies. I stop in place as I look at the red dot on the screen: it's large. At least four times the size of a regular dot. And it's right below us.

"**EVERYONE, STOP!**" As these words left my mouth, we all froze in place at the sound of large creaking.

A few seconds later, the floor begins to open up, revealing two large, red, robotic eyes below. A three-fingered metal hand reaches from the depths, its hands stark white, thick, and curved. Rising from below is the rest of the machine, its head modeled after a medieval knight's helmet. It's torso held a large, circular device. I wouldn't be surprised if the thing was a laser cannon. Raising its other arm, which resembles a cannon from a star fighter, it places its curved feet upon the platform. As it stands up, I realized that it was probably two, maybe three stories tall. And that I never saw anything like it in the Mass Effect trilogy. **AT ALL!**

"Would someone care to explain **WHAT IN THE GOD DAMNED GALAXY THAT IS?!**" Joe screams out in shock.

"It is Titan mech, prototype coming from Cerberus HQ. They sending it here for fixing few of glitches in programming," Anton nervously explains.

I look at him in exasperation. "What **kind** of glitches?" I ask, thinking I wouldn't like the answer.

"It always killing everything in sight." Yep. Definitely don't like that answer.

"Any ideas?" asks Lucas.

"I have one," states Joseph.

As he lets go of Rufus, leaving Anton to carry all the weight, Joseph runs away screaming "**RUN LIKE A LITTLE BIIIIIIIIIITTTCCCHHHHH!**"

_**"HOSTILES DETECTED. EXPLETIVE: DIE, MOTHERFUCKERS."**_

As it unleashes a torrent of laser fire, I can't help feeling the urge to want to wash that thing's mouth out with a bar of soap. I look past my cover. _A __**BIG **__bar of soap._

Deciding to take another shot at my gold biotics, I set Donald safely behind the pillar and jump out. With determination, I thrust my arm out to create any biotic power…

Two things go through my mind simultaneously. The first is confusion, as I had failed again to create the golden biotics. The second thing is a desire to kick my own ass, as I was out of cover and right in the line of sight of the Titan. I try to run back to cover, but the Titan fires a round at my position. _Oh shit._

_**KABOOOOOOMMM!**_

The heat and shockwave from the explosion sends waves of pain through my body as I fly through the air. The explosion also did a good job of singeing my armor and blasting off half of my helmet. As the ground rushes up to greet me, I immediately begin to fall out of consciousness. Before the darkness takes me, I watch as Joe, Malak, and Kerry attempt to fight the monster.

* * *

As I open my eyes, the first thing I see is bright light all around me, with a sensation of warmth surrounding my body. _Wait,_ I think, _bright light?_

My eyes shoot straight open and I jump up to my feet. My eyes immediately adjust to my surroundings, and I can make out that I'm in a cloud like substance with streams and waves of golden light accentuating the area.

"Oh. My. God. I'm dead. I'm really, really dead."

"_Not exactly."_

I spin around, looking for the source of the voice. The same voice that told me to make the choice to bring Donald and Rufus' bodies with me. "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

Immediately, a figure of white light appears. The figure appears feminine in form, with golden light for hair reaching down to her knees. _"I'm sorry. I forgot that we need forms to properly communicate with those of the physical realm. My apologies, Michael."_

I can tell that she's embarrassed by the way she's bowing her head. "Oh, it's okay. It was an honest mista-"

My voice cuts off as I catch what she said. "What did you call me?"

The woman of light looks up at me. _"Michael. That's your name, remember?"_

She immediately notices that my face has a look of shocked gratitude on it. After a few seconds, I speak so softly, only she can hear it. "Michael." I give out a laugh of relief. "My name is Michael."

"_Oh, that's right! Amnesia is a side effect of-oh never mind, it's not important right now! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hikari, and I'm the one who saved your life."_

"Hah?" I ask in a pure WTF state of mind. "What do you mean by that?"

A smile(?) forms on her nonexistent face. _"Sorry, can't tell you that right now."_ I suddenly have the urge to punch something or someone in the face. Preferably Deadpool.

"Wait," I ask, deciding to get back on his original question. "What did you mean by, 'not exactly' when I said I was dead?" At this Hikari looks at me with a look I can only assume is playful.

"_Because you're almost dead, silly."_

That's it. This day is **definitely** my most fucked up day of my life. And I can't even remember what my life was!

"What do you mean, almost dead?" I ask barely keeping my sanity together.

Sensing how I'm feeling, Hikari answers _"Sorry, can't tell you that right now. I'm only here at the moment to heal you, then teach you the basics."_

"Basics of what?!" My patience is starting to wear out.

"_Of how to use your powers. Unless you want to get blasted by the huge robot again, of course."_ I look at her in silence. Suddenly my patience is rejuvenated.

* * *

**(Well now! My [Guardian's] name is finally revealed! But the more answers I get, the more questions I'm left to ask. WHO or WHAT is Hikari? What does she know? How will Round 2 against the Titan mech go? And what will be revealed about my mysterious golden biotics? Also, here's the link to what Joe/Deadpool was blabbering about during his fight: **

** /Main/SwordAndGun**

**Anyway, please review!)**


	4. Prologue, Pt 4

**(Author's Note: I do not own Mass Effect or any of its characters. Also, sorry it took so long. I have either been lazy, caught up in college schoolwork, or both. Enjoy!)**

**Prologue, Pt. 4: Entering the Plot**

* * *

_Joseph's POV:_

* * *

I literally froze in place as I watched Guardian fly through the air, his armor burnt beyond repair from the blast. I continue to watch in horror as he hit's the wall with a sickening **CRUNCH **and falls to the ground limply. He doesn't move. Not even a twitch.

"**NOOOOOOOO!"**

Turning toward the mechanical monster, I join in with Malak and Kerry as they charge into the fray. With little trouble, the Titan easily knocks us away with its enormous hands. Regaining my focus, I turn my attention to retrieving Guardian from where he fell. _He'll make it_, I think to myself. _He has to make it._

Running to retrieve him, I'm instantly blocked from my objective as a blast from the Titan mech's cannon knocks me backwards. Landing next to Anton, he pulls me safely away from the behemoth's sight. "Are you being crazy?!" he screamed. "You getting killed acting like invincible, charging out damning consequences!"

"But Guardian-"

"Hit at angle deadly enough to be breaking krogan's back," he interrupted. He then looks down solemnly. "I'm sorry, but he… he is gone."

I let it sink in, and look at where this mysterious warrior lay. He was trying to use his biotics when he was killed, he could tell that. _He was able to use them earlier_, I thought, _so why couldn't he use them now? Why?!_

"**LOOK OUT!"** cries Alala. Reacting as fast as by mortal coil could, I simultaneously look briefly at the Titan mech as the opaque cavity in its chest lit up with a sickly red light while running for cover. _Really?!_ I thought as I ducked behind a pillar with Lucas in tow. _The thing has a freaking __**CHEST LASER?!**_

A red beam of light shoots overhead, burning heat radiating from it. As it dies down, I look to where it hit. A gaping hole about 10 meters in diameter stood where a section of wall once was. I let out a nervous laugh. "Well," I said, "haven't seen a hole that big-"

"DP, if you continue that 'joke,' I will rip your balls off and shove them down a vorcha's mouth," Lucas calmly stated. He really hated it when I made jokes like that, good natured or otherwise. Normally I would continue the joke, but Lucas scared the **shit** out of me. He once got so pissed off he literally threw both an elcor **and** a krogan straight through a steel wall. The man was **not** to be fucked with.

Turning my attention back to the gigantic mech behind me, I drew out three grenades and primed them. Setting up the targeting system in my helmet, I aimed with deadly precision at the monstrosity's face area, draw my arm back, and let the grenades fly like a triad of discuses. Connecting with the 'face' instantly, I pressed a button on my Omni-tool and watched as the mech was knocked slightly backwards by the combined explosions. My feelings of joy quickly dissipated as the giant mech regained its footing and reached for me.

_Well, guess this is it._

As quickly as I resigned myself to my fate, a golden light knocks the mechanical limb off course just enough to miss me. Turning ever so slightly, I gaze in marvel at the sight before me. A figure clad in fried gold and white armor, barely standing as pain shook across his battered body, had his hand outstretched in the direction of the Titan's arm. His body, fluctuating a brilliant golden aura, began to walk toward the enormous robot. His eyes, giving of a white glow, were set with determination. _**"All right, metal head,"**_ spoke Guardian as he cracked his knuckles. _**"Round 2!"**_

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

I could barely believe that this was happening to me. Here I was, standing down a giant of God knows what kinds of tech, with armor barely holding together and my hi-tech weapons completely wrecked from the explosion's heat. The only thing still working was my Desert Eagle .50, but there was only one clip left, and it was already in the gun. Something told me though that a single handgun wasn't going to bring the Titan down. Thankfully, I had my biotics successfully flaring up, ready to kick that metal motherfucker's ass. It seemed that what Hikari told me was working. My thoughts go back to what she said before I regained consciousness: _"Until you have a better handle on your power, you'll only have control for a total of three minutes, so use it well."_

I only had one chance to bring this sucker down, and that chance would disappear in about 45 seconds. 45 seconds to kick ass, take names, save everyone. With this in mind, I crouch down and ready my next attack. I then leap forward, the world flashing before my eyes in a golden hue. I end my Charge as I hit the mech square in the chest, destroying the chest blaster and sending sparks flying across the monster's body.

Hitting the ground, I begin to unleash a torrent of Warps, Shockwaves, Throws, and Reaves, effectively whittling down the mech's shields and armor to nothing. _28 seconds_. Leaping into the air, I charged up as much biotic energy into my right hand and yelled as I launched myself towards its head. With as much strength as I could muster, I threw my hand right down and watched as the biotically charged punch turned the mech's head into a shower of flames, sparks, and shrapnel. I pushed off of the mech's body and landed on my feet, watching with a smile as the remains fell back into the hole the mech crawled out of. I strain my ear to listen as the metallic corpse hit's the ground with a satisfying, metal scraping crash. Deciding to end things on that note, I deactivate my biotics and turn wearily the stunned group of people I had saved. "What?" I ask innocently. "Is there something on my face?"

_**2 minutes to self destruct.**_

That brings us back to reality. I run back to where I left Donald, turn to see Malak and Anton lift Rufus out of his safely hidden area, then I run to the hangar like my life depended on it. Granted it really did, but still. Toshiro reached the door first, placing his hand on a DNA scanner that immediately unlocked the door. We run through, head for a shuttle, and piled in as fast as humanly possible. Anton quickly activated the controls and flew the shuttle toward an exit. As the tunnel zooms past the windows, Kerry looks at her Omni-tool, counting down the remaining seconds. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

A deep rumbling shakes the shuttle as debris begins to rain down. The rumbling grows and grows, a bright light accompanying it as it catches up to us. I look out the window and my heartbeat quickens to 10 beats a second, watching as the flames begin to lick at our shuttle. **"Everyone, be holding on to lunches and underwear! This going to being big one!"** We all take Anton up on his advice and brace ourselves as the explosion shoots us out of the tunnel and straight into an underground docking area. The shuttle crashes onto the ground, send us jerking back and forth in our seats and crashing into each other's heads.

* * *

I force my eyes open through the pain, checking to see if everyone was alright. Everyone was either sprawled across the seats or laying messily on the floor. In the dim lighting, I can make out the form of Malak struggling to stand up, checking to see if Alice was hurt in the crash. "Okay," I wearily said, "anyone who isn't dead, sound off." Eight voices speak up. "Allrighty then, let's bust this thing open and get the eff outta here." At that, Anton uses his minigun as a battering ram, knocking the door right off the shuttle.

Grabbing Donald and Rufus' unconscious forms, we wearily start walking to find an exit, with Kerry in the lead. About five minutes (and a helluva ton of stairs) later, we finally manage to reach the top. Before Kerry can open the door, a thought suddenly dawns on me. "Wait," I said, "Anton, Deadpool, you two take point with me. No telling what we'll find on the other side of that door." The two nod, with Joseph taking out his Mattock and Anton prepping his minigun. I borrow Joseph's SMG, a Kassa Fabrication M-12 Locust, and we aim our guns at the door as Kerry prepares to open it. With a soft hiss, the door slides open, revealing an empty lobby. A quick scan of the perimeter validates that we are alone. As we head toward the door, which Kerry says will lead outside, Anton pats me on the back. Not really a pat, more like a hard slap.

"Don't worrying, Guardian. **Now** worse being behind us."

A burst of gun fire hails through the door the second it opened, hitting Anton as he walked past me and out the door. With a thud, the large Russian hit the ground on his back.

"**PAPAAAAAA!"**

Her voice piercing the air, Alice attempts to run to her father, but Lucas and Malak hold her back as they drag her behind cover. Joseph and I take cover next to the doorway, readying to ventilate the son of a bitch who shot Anton down. We jump into sight and unleash a torrent of rounds onto the attacker. We watched with pride as the blood flew from the figure as it hit the ground, giving an ear piercing screech as it died. What caught my attention, though was the sound the body made as it hit the floor. A metallic _CLANG_. I take a closer look at the fallen figure: a metallic being with three fingers on each hand, a curved head, and a single eye. A single, flashlight eye.

My next words are soft-spoken, but loud enough for the others to hear. "It's a geth."

"Impossible," said Kerry. "The geth haven't been outside the Perseus Veil in centuries. Why would they be here? On Eden Prime of all places?!"

My heart sinks down to my gut. The world goes silent as I ask one question. "Wh-what…what **year** is this?"

A grunt comes from Anton. "Year is 2183. Why asking?"

As Alice rushes over to hug her father, thanking God that she didn't lose him too, two thoughts instantly speed through my head. The first is my silent joy that Anton is alive. Someone must have put medigel on his wounds…either that or he's a freaking beast. The second thought is one that is less than cheerful. I'm in Mass Effect 1. In the middle of the geth assault on the colony.

Suddenly, three more figures come into view. I thank the lord that both of them are human. As they walk towards us, I am able to make out that they are two men and one female. I instantly recognize the armor to be Onyx armor, with the female's armor bearing a red stripe running down the right arm and an N7 on the right side of her chest plate. Oh. My. God. Commander Shepard. Commander Shepard is standing **right in front of me!** Must…resist…urge…to enter…fan boy mode.

"What's going on here?" asks a confused Shepard. "And **what** in the blue blazes is **that?**" she asks pointing to the fallen geth unit.

"That," I reply as calmly as humanly possible, "is the smoldering corpse of a geth that we just gunned down. And just so you know," I say jerking my thumb back at Anton, "it attacked us first."

"That can't be right," replies who I can only assume is Kaidan Alenko. "The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?"

"Who cares?" asks Jenkins. "They're attacking the place I grew up on. I'm gonna make sure they pay!" It was almost invigorating how Jenkins practically felt invincible. Too bad he had to die, I might've liked the guy.

Wait a minute…maybe he doesn't have to die. "Ma'am, our group has wounded, and we're low on ammo. We can't defend ourselves for long. If you could spare one of your squad to help protect us, we could help you-" I pause, almost giving myself away. "-complete whatever mission you have on this planet."

She contemplates for a few seconds, then looks to Jenkins.

"Jenkins, stay here and help protect these people until we get back."

He looks at the commander with shock evident on his face. "But-"

"No buts, Jenkins. Being a hero doesn't always mean charging into a fight. Remember that and maybe you'll live longer." At that he half-heartedly agrees with her. "Alright then, who's coming with us?" I instantly step forward, and am quickly followed in suit by Joseph. I'm surprised Malak didn't want to come with us, but I guess he felt someone need to keep an eye on Jenkins.

"Okay then," she says brandishing her shotgun. "Our mission is to pick up a Prothean beacon before anyone else tries to take it, or worse, destroy it. If we find any survivors, direct them back to this point. Move out!" With that command, the four of us headed out, following the commander to the beacon.

* * *

During our excursion, I allow myself to briefly wonder how much could change because I practically saved Jenkins' life. My train of thought is immediately cut short by the familiar sound of geth "speaking."

"LOOK OUT!" yells Shepard.

Before I'm able to duck to safety, a stray shot manages to hit me square in my right shoulder. Wincing in pain, I realize that the Titan mech's laser must've fried my shield generators. _That's it! I fucking __**HATE**__ mechs!_ A shot ricocheting off the rock brings me out of my internal rant long enough to take out my Desert Eagle .50 and aim at the geth's flashlight face with my left arm.

Fun fact: trying to aim a handgun with one arm and having no shields, all while the enemy is shooting you with an assault rifle, by the way, is a real stress maker. Also, when that handgun happens to be a Desert Eagle brand gun, the recoil can be enough to dislocate your shoulder if you aren't careful. I had the pleasure of finding both of these out at once as I pulled the trigger. On the upside, I watched from the ground as that one shot tore through it's kinetic barriers and made its face explode in a flower of white "blood," sparks, and shrapnel. Watching it fall to the ground, I felt a sense of accomplishment that quickly evaporated as the other two geth took aim at me. Shepard, Kaidan, and Joseph open fire, only managing to kill one of the synthetics. As the other one prepares to gun me down, a torrent of gunfire brings the motherboard-fucker to its knees. I watch in shock and relief as the thing falls dead in front of me.

"Holy crap, are you okay?!"

Hearing this new voice makes me turn my attention to a female figure clad in white and pink armor. Holstering her assault rifle, she hurries over to me. She sees my gun wound and immediately coats it in medigel. As the miracle gel begins to dull the pain and stop the bleeding, I make a mental note to remember to find out who invented this stuff and go to their grave, just so I can thank them. "There, you should be okay now. Just be sure to…wait, you killed a geth with **that**?" she says as she points to my Desert Eagle .50, all while having a look of shock on her face. I smile at this, wining as I reach to pick it up.

"Yes, yes he did. Thanks for saving him, by the way, miss…" says Shepard as she walks up to us. At the sight of the commander, she straightens up and salutes.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212! Damn good to see you, ma'am!"

"At ease, Chief," says Shepard as she and Kaidan return the salute. "What happened here?"

Relaxing from her salute, she explained the situation to us. As she mentioned her team, I noticed from the slight quivering in her voice that she was holding back tears. _Makes sense_, I solemnly think to myself. _She lost her entire squad to the geth. I wonder why Bioware never put this into the game? It would've-_

"We could use your help, Williams," said Shepard, bringing me out of my thoughts. God, I hate it when that happens.

"Aye, aye, sir. It's time for payback." A gleam enters Ashley's eyes as she readies her gun. Not a good looking gleam, either. More like the _I'm going to stop at nothing for vengeance _gleam.

And so, the five of us head out to the dig site, killing everything that was geth that stood in our way. I decided to hold on to Joseph's SMG until I could make spare ammo clips for my handgun, so I had to whittle down their shields before I could actually damage them. When we got to the dig site, Ashley's face lit up in shock as we found the dig site was missing its beacon. "What the…this is the dig site. The beacon was right here! It must have been moved!" she exclaimed.

"By who?" asked Kaidan. "Our side? Or the geth?"

"Chief, is there a research camp nearby?" I ask. "Maybe someone there might know where it went."

Ashley looks at me with a _why didn't I think of that_ look on her face. "Yeah, its just past the camp, right up this ridge. If we're lucky, someone might still be alive."

"We won't know until we check it out for ourselves," said a hopeful Shepard. "Move out, team!"

As the five of us, reach the camp, Kaidan warns us to keep our guards up. _Wait a minute, isn't this where-_

The sound of screeching, retracting metal destroys my train of thought. Turning toward the source of the noise we are greeted by a humanoid figure, gray skinned with pale electric blue lights giving the creature a ghastly appearance. "Oh God, they're still alive!" exclaimed Kaidan. _Oh Kaidan,_ I thought, _if only you knew how wrong you are. Might as well say it._

"No," I stated. "They're **not** alive. The geth turned them into mindless…things. Husks of their former selves. Not even human." As soon as I finish, shots fly past my right ear and quickly knocks the husk flat on its ass, sickly green blood pooling out. Clutching my ear in pain, I turn around and see Shepard holding the smoking gun. "WHAT THE SHIT, SHEPARD?!"

"You said it yourself," she said with determination. "Those, **husks**, aren't human anymore. Meaning we have no reason to hold back. TAKE THEM DOWN!"

At that, a one-sided shootout began, with the husks getting quickly decimated. One of the husks, however, found its way to me and tackled me to the ground. "GUARDIAN!" cries Kaidan as the others rush to help me. I struggled in trying to push it off, but the thing wouldn't let go. _Damn it! Get off of me! Get off of me! Get off of me, damn you!_ I suddenly noticed my arms were glowing a faint gold, and that it was snaking its way into the husk's mouth. Suddenly, it stopped trying to attack me, and I noticed that its lights had changed to a warm golden color. What the husk did next shook me to my core.

"_Help…me…kill…me…"_

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The husk was **speaking**. **SPEAKING!** I noticed that the rest of the squad was as shocked as me. Ashley, however, trembled at the sound of the voice. "Greta? Oh God, Greta…no, please, no, nonononononononono, _please, not you, no…"_ Ashley walked backwards, the shock and horror of seeing someone she once knew turned into…this.

The husk, once known as Greta to Ashley, turned around and looked right at the poor girl. She began stumbling forward, a tear-like substance trickling down her justified face. _"Ash…kill…me…please…kill…me…don't…wanna…live…like… this…kill…me…please…"_ Sobs were caught in my throat as I saw this once-human being begging to die, to be put out of her misery. Suddenly, the golden light emanating off of Greta glowed brighter, bright enough to blind me. The blinding light is quickly replaced by flashes of a past life. Greta's life.

* * *

_I feel her wonder as she looks out the window of a ship at the stars._

_I feel her joy as she is running with a Boston terrier through the plains of an Alien world._

_I feel her sorrow as she cries in the rain, begging her mother and father to not bury the body of her little brother, horribly burned from burns from a ship explosion._

_I feel her anger at her parents as she argues with them, refusing to even entertain the thought of leaving Eden Prime._

_I feel her peace of mind as she lies in bed with her wife and child._

_I feel her terror as she is placed on the base of the metal spike by the geth, silently praying that her family will survive._

_Then nothing._

* * *

Tears freely flow down my face as the memories end. I look at the others, my face silently begging them to do help this poor soul. Joseph complies. "Greta," he says soothingly as he takes off his mask. His face is about that of a 25 year old man. His skin is lightly tanned, with short silver hair framing his freckle-covered face. A visible scar runs across his nose and under his eyes, which are a bloody red hue. "My name is Joseph. I know you're scared, that your in a lot of pain. But I promise, you won't suffer any longer. You won't feel the pain anymore." As he says this, he draws his broadsword and positions it at Greta's heart. With a quick stabbing motion, Greta jerks and slowly begins to crumple to the ground.

"_Thank…you…for…sav…ing…me…Jo…seph…and…Guar…di…an…"_

And she's gone.

At that point, Ashley didn't care who saw, who heard, who would think of it. She just cried. She let all of her sorrow pour out as she clung to Shepard's arm and bawled her eyes out. Shepard just stood there and held her. Kaidan went over to me and helped me up, tears welling up in his eyes. I fight to keep my tears down, but it is in vain. Joseph simply stood there, his body shaking in anger. As we begin to pull ourselves back together, a single thought runs through my mind as a shot rings through the sky.

_Saren. _

_He. Will. Pay._

* * *

**(*sniff* I swear, I nearly cried when I was writing that last part. As we draw nearer to the beacon, revenge against Saren is the main thought on my mind. What will happen next? Please review. Know that all flamers will be slowly executed with a spoon.)**


	5. Prologue, Pt 5

**(Author's Note: I do not own Mass Effect, its characters, or anything from the series. All I own is this fanfic's plot, its Original Characters, and any/all original devices and/or powers/abilities that I create in this story. Enjoy!)**

"Regular Speaking"

_Thoughts_

"_Talking over radios"_

_**REAPER MENTAL COMUNICATIONS**_

* * *

** Prologue, Pt. 5: Vs. Saren, Round 1**

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

The shot ringing in the sky snaps everyone to attention, turning in the direction it came from. My blood began to boil with rage as I remembered why the shot went off: Saren had just killed Nihlus, one of his fellow Spectres, and one of his closest friends. And he shot him without a second thought.

"Okay, I'm willing to bet 1000 credits that the guy behind this blood bath is that way. I say we **double time it, because I want to PERSONALLY PUT A BULLET IN HIS WORTHLESS SKULL WHILE WE STILL HAVE THE CHANCE!**"

To emphasize my statement, I locked and loaded my Desert Eagle .50, and began running in that direction, with Ashley following close behind. Her eyes held a fire in them. The all-consuming fire of vengeance. I wish I had paid more attention to it before.

Shepard, Kaidan, and Joseph were right behind us, with Shepard quickly taking the lead again. I mentally kicked myself as I remembered that this was her mission. That didn't stop me from following right behind her, though, as I still wanted to rip the living shit out of Saren's worthless-

"LOOK!"

Joseph's exclamation caused us to stop in our tracks and gaze at a sight that sent shivers down my spine: a dark colored cephalopod-shaped ship, two kilometers in height, its engines slowly propelling it off the ground and into the sky as it blares a bone chilling, ear-piercing horn. As it launches further and further into the heavens, I couldn't help but think that it was looking right at me, gazing into my soul. What happened next was a real surprise for me.

_**YOUR PRESENCE CHANGES NOTHING. YOU CANNOT STOP THE INEVITABLE.**_

Yep. Sovereign just spoke directly into my mind. And wouldn't you know it, the bastard just went and got all cliché, telling me how I won't change things by…hang on. How the **fuck** did Sovereign know that I'm not from this universe? Hell, how does Sovereign know about me at all?! Something to ask Hikari about later, along with asking her why I can't remember shit of what happened before or how I got here.

"Ho. Ly. Shit!" exclaimed Shepard. "Did you just see the **size** of that thing?! It was freaking **huge**!"

A burst of giggling came from Joseph. Wondering what he was laughing about, we turned and looked at him with confusion on our faces. "What's so funny?" I asked. "She was just saying that in was huge."

Joseph held in his laughter as he spoke. "Th-That's…**THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!**" As he burst out laughing, I noticed Kaidan bringing a hand up to his face for a face palm. I felt like doing the same. _Geez, I can't believe I walked right into_-

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

I watched in shock as Joseph crumpled to the ground screaming in pain, clutching his right leg. I immediately noticed the blood pouring out of two holes in his right foot. Looking up, I found the source of the shots: Ashley and Shepard's pistols. _Okay,_ I thought. _Most likely Renegade Shepard._

Joseph looked up with pain and anger etched into his face. "**GOD-DAMMIT! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!**"

"Make another crack aimed at me," Shepard said with ice in her voice, "and I will aim **much** higher. Like your groin." At that, Joseph shut up as Kaidan put medigel on his foot. _Yep, Renegade Shepard._

"Ooookaaayyy," I said nervously. "If we're all done playing 'Shoot the Asshole in the Foot,' I would like to point out that **WE HAVE INCOMING!**"

At that, everyone noticed a squad of 10 geth and 5 husks charging toward us. I drew my Locust and started shooting the two geth closest to me, bringing them down in 10 seconds flat. I followed that up with propelling myself off of the closest husk and placing my feet directly onto the geth behind it. Unleashing a torrent of rounds into its flashlight face, I was too busy to notice the husk I used as a lift-off pad running toward me.

I turned around just in time to see its head explode, resulting in the green gunk splattering on my face. Spitting in case any had gotten into my mouth, I looked up to see Ashley holding a smoking sniper rifle. She then began using it to nail a geth that was right behind me, which had the result of the shot grazing past my singed helmet.

"**WATCH IT, ASH!** **YOU COULD'VE KILLED-**"

I was cut off as two husks crashed into me, both dead on impact. I was willing to bet that they were killed by Kaidan's biotics. Before I could get out from under them, my gold biotics acted up again in the same manner they did with Greta. Knowing what was going to happen, I braced myself.

* * *

_A beautiful sunset painted Eden Prime's skies with glorious golden-red_ _light and purple clouds._

_Two adult women, along with a teenage boy and girl, sit in contentment under a tree._

_The next day, geth enter their house. The boy charges them before he is ended._

_The girl screams in terror before the geth look at her. She tries to run, but they grab her, taking her toward one of the metal spikes. _

_One of the adult women opens fire on the geth, managing to take two of them before she is captured._

_As they are laid on top of the devices, one word escapes each of their lips._

"_Mom."_

"_Greta."_

_The spike shoot up, and the world goes to black._

* * *

As the visions end, I found myself breathing heavily, sweat pouring down my face. Vomit tried to force its way up my throat, but I managed to hold it back. "You okay, Guardian?" Joseph asked as he looked down at me.

"They're dead," I said between breaths. "Greta's family. They're…they're all…oh, God…"

As my eyes begin to focus, I noticed we were at the area where Nihlus was shot. This was evident with the turian Spectre's lifeless body at Ashley's feet. She obviously heard what I said, as she went over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. Her eyes said it all; she knew what I was going through. She knew this pain.

"Well," said Joseph, "while you were out, we learned from a survivor that a turian named Saren shot Nihlus. The dead turian. I think it's safe to say he's behind the geth attack, too. He took the train to where the beacon was moved."

_Saren_. Hearing the bastard's name reinvigorates me. "What are we waiting around for then?! Let's go find him and KICK HIS ASS!"

Getting up, I follow the others as we quickly make short work of the few geth by the train. As the train takes us to where the beacon was taken, we check our inventory and make sure that our equipment is still functional. I decide to break the silence.

"Alright, listen up, guys. If we find this Saren, I call dibs on kicking his ass." The others looked at me with concern as I took my held my Desert Eagle .50 in firing position.

"We all want to get the guy responsible for this," Kaidan calmly said. "Why should you be special?"

I turned to him with cold hatred in my eyes. "Remember the husk that spoke? Greta? I don't know if you remember, but she, as well as her family, were killed, slaughtered by those metal monsters on that **bastard's** orders. Saren had those fucking machines do this to practically everyone on this colony." My voice was dripping with so much hatred, you could spread it over fifteen slices of toast.

To keep myself from coming off as a dick, I hung my head as I decided to do something to gain their sympathy: lie. "Besides, I've lived on Eden Prime for the past year. I consider this place to be my home. If Saren thinks he can attack my home and get away with it, especially while I'm here, he's got another thing coming. And if I'm right, and he was behind what I think he was, then all of **this**…this is personal." I spoke those last words with a silent promise to bring the turian bastard down, even if it killed me. Which, knowing how he becomes a Sovereign-controlled super husk, just might mean my death.

Kaidan slowly backed away at that, a look of sympathy filling his and Shepard's eyes. Joseph gave me a look that said 'I don't believe you, but I'm going to keep quiet about it for now.' Ashley simply walked up to me with conviction in her eyes. "Yeah, well get in line."

I was about to retort, but she cut me off. "Look, kid, I can understand where you're coming from, but Greta was my closest friend in this colony. She and her family were one of the few people outside my family that actually cared about me." Walking right up to my face, she continued. "You want revenge on Saren? Fine. But so am I." I was silent for a few seconds before nodding my head in agreement.

"Anyone got a problem with that?" I asked the rest. They were silent. The only actual response we got from them were nods of approval.

As the train stopped, we found a large device on the platform next to us. It had a timer, a flashing light, and it was beeping.

Joseph's eyes widened. "**BOMB!**"

Shepard immediately ran to the bomb and began to disarm it. The speed at which she was working made me guess that she had tech training, so she was either an Engineer, a Sentinel, or an Infiltrator. I didn't have much time to ponder as she finished disarming it. "There's probably more lying around," she said. "We have to find them and shut them all down."

I realized that if we did that, we would miss Saren. I took my Locust out and said, "You, Kaidan, and Joseph handle the bombs. Ashley and I will go ahead and see if we can put a bullet in Saren's head." Shepard started to argue, but a volley of gunfire from the geth stopped her. She hung her head in defeat.

"Fine, we'll cover you. Just make sure you get his corpse to me in one piece so I can rip it apart myself," she said maliciously as she glowed a faint blue. _Yep, definitely a Sentinel._

Before I could head out, Joseph handed me his broadsword. "Make sure to gut the bastard for me," he said. With a nod, I gripped the sword with my Locust and charged out into the squad of geth, Ashley following close behind.

Swinging the double-edged sword sideways, I managed to cut two of the geth in half before gunning down a third. Ashley followed by rolling to the side and mowing down the four farthest geth rocket troopers with her assault rifle. Charging forward, she grabbed a knife out of her boot and jammed it right in the face of the geth closest to her. As she struggled to get the blade out, I threw the broadsword straight over her head, the blade burying itself in the head of a geth soldier that was right behind her.

"Thanks," she said breathing heavily.

I nodded to her and continued toward the beacon. As we reached the beacon, we were greeted with the sight of the turian bastard, floating in front of the beacon with his arms stretched out, giving him an almost mystical appearance. He then immediately dropped to the ground and turned to face us.

As he took notice of us, I quickly noticed how pale he was. I mean, I already knew that his appearance made him look menacing, but the games never gave it justice. His skin was practically bone white, with his eyes barely showing at all, thus making his face look like a turian skull. His armor was only a tinge bit grayer than his skin, but his claw-like hands helped give it a lethal appearance. I then noticed something odd. In the game, he had some cybernetic implants blatantly showing, particularly in his jaw and eyes; this was not the case as I had yet to see any implants. What really surprised me was his left arm: it was completely organic! He was supposed to have a geth's arm where his left arm should be.

"I take it that you're the _rescue party_, here to save the colony," he said in his sickly-sweet tone. That, coupled with the flanging sound that all turians have when they speak, sent shivers down my spine. "If so, than you're too late. My bombs will destroy the colony in a matter of minutes, and I will be long gone. There will be no evidence."

My blood boiled with rage as he spoke with such belief that he would succeed. Stepping toward him, I said "Yeah, well I got some sour news for you, buster. Shepard is disarming your bombs as we speak. And as soon as she's done, she and the rest of our squad are gonna help us kick your bony ass six ways to the Super Bowl. And no one, not even your **master**, can stop that. Not forever, at least."

I felt a bit of pride when I saw Saren's face get plastered with shock. He definitely wasn't expecting anyone to know about Sovereign. But as soon as it showed, his surprise was replaced with a smug understanding. "I see…so you're the one he was talking about. I should have known that Carlisle would fail. Humans are just so useless, I don't know why we even need them."

That feeling of rage that I just had? It just doubled. He just admitted that he ordered Carlisle to betray his co-workers, his friends, just to kill me. But why? Why did he want me dead? What makes me so important? I file those questions away for when I speak to Hikari again, and focus all my attention on one goal: fucking this son of a bitch's face up so hard that he won't even be able to drink properly. "Ash…let's kick his ass."

"Aye, aye, kid."

With that, we raise our guns and open fire at him. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that he had biotics, as he demonstrated with a Barrier that was protecting him from the volley of shots. As soon as our weapons overheated, he drew his pistol and aimed it right at me. Ashley proved she was quicker than me, as she knocked me down into cover before Saren even fired a single round at us.

Raising her assault rifle as she got up, Ashley aimed right at Saren and unleashed an Overkill attack, hell-bent on ending the rouge spectre's life. His Barrier beginning to flicker, he threw a Warp that impacted right in her chest, knocking the wind right out of her. I managed to get Ashley back into cover before Saren started to open fire again.

The effects of the Warp starting to wear off, Ashley proceeded to take out a grenade and threw it at Saren. As it went off, I saw a chance and ran out of cover, heading right for the pale turian. Drawing closer to him, I reared my right hand back and focused as hard as I could on the goal: _I want to punch Saren. I __**want **__to punch Saren. I __**want**__ to __**punch**__ Saren. I __**want**__ to __**punch Saren**__._

A golden, fluctuating light began to dance across my right arm as I skidded to a stop in front of Saren. Readying myself, I chanted in my head one last time.

_**I WANT TO FUCKING PUNCH SAREN!**_

I let loose and swung my fist as hard as I could, right in the bastard's face. My biotics suddenly unleashed a golden explosion of light as Saren went flying into the railing behind him. Unfortunately, the railing had the integrity to keep from breaking as he landed. Coming to his senses, and seeing that I was still disoriented from that attack, he raised his gun and aimed right for my head.

Pistol shots then rang out…from behind me. I turned to see a recovered Ashley aiming her pistol right at Saren's general direction. A few well placed shots later, the railing came apart and fell to the ground far below, and Saren with it. I only wish he had the decency to scream as he fell.

Before he fell, however, he had managed to throw a grenade in our direction, as I discovered when I heard a repetitive beeping sound. As soon as I saw it, my eyes widened and I scrambled away as fast as I could. Not fast enough, unfortunately. The explosion was surprisingly strong, as it managed to throw me right off my feet and flung me forward…right towards the Prothean beacon.

Impacting with the beacon with a bone breaking _**THUD**_, I felt an alien sensation crawl across my body and lifting me into the air. Green energy flooded across, mixing with my golden biotics. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain run through my mind, and the visions began.

* * *

I don't know how Shepard managed to keep her sanity. The sheer horror of the images, flashing rapidly and repeatedly across my eyes, seemed to destroy my mind and remake it continuously. And the pain. My God, the pain! Did Shepard go through this every time? No normal human could withstand this. After what seemed like an eternity (but was only 10 seconds), the beacon exploded, sending my hurtling toward Ashley.

* * *

_Ashley's POV:_

* * *

As his body landed on top of mine, letting out a grunt of pain, I allowed myself to wonder how much this kid weighed. Then my mind came back to the important matters at hand, remembering that not only did a grenade go off next to him, but the beacon had done something to him before blowing up.

"Kid, you okay? Kid?!" No response.

Fear shot through my mind. He was my responsibility. I promised myself that I would keep him safe. Now he was laying here, motionless at my feet. I was losing him.

Just like I lost my squad.

"KID!" My voice was starting to break.

I began to tear off his chest plate, now completely trashed beyond salvage. As soon as I saw his clothes, I began to press down on his chest repeatedly. I wasn't going to lose him. I wasn't letting him die too!

After breathing into him a few times. I stopped and closed my eyes. "Please_,_ God," I silently prayed. "If anyone is to live through this, please let it be him." Tears began to well in my eyes. With conviction, I screamed out "PLEASE!"

His eyes sot open, and he immediately began to gasp for air. Relief began to wash through my body, and I began to thank the Lord for this. Looking up at me, the kid asked only one question: "Did you just kiss me?"

I punched him in the arm, causing him to wince in pain. I then started to laugh in relief, tears of joy cascading down my face. Hearing footsteps behind me, I spun around and raised my gun at the source.

"Woah, easy there, Chief. We're the good guys."

Embarrassment reddened my face as I lowered my gun away from Commander Shepard. Seeing the state the kid was in, she, Kaidan, and Joseph rushed over to see how bad the damage was. "What happened here, Chief?" asked Kaidan, genuine concern practically dripping off his voice.

"We ran into Saren, LT. The turian bastard put up a good fight, but we managed to knock him over the edge," I said as I jerked my thumb at the gaping hole in the railing.

"Unfortunately," the kid said in pain, "he managed to throw a grenade before falling. Blasted me right into the bea-"

He stopped as his face lit up in understanding, which quickly dissolved into a kind of horror. Suspicion encroaching my mind, I decided that I would talk with him about this later. Helping him up, I said "The important thing, ma'am, is that we saved the colony, and the guy behind the attack is dead."

A faint rumbling soon proved me wrong, as Saren rose up on a hovering platform. Rage was evident in his eyes as he ascended. He launched a larger than usual Warp directly at us, causing us to scatter. The kid and I looked up to see Saren heading towards a geth ship far larger than a normal one. Turning to face the kid, I see his face contort with rage as his golden biotics flared up. "No," he said as he gripped the broadsword. "He is not getting away. **NOT ON MY WATCH**!"

Realizing what he was about to do, I grabbed onto him to try and hold him back. The attempt was in vain, though, as we rocketed right into the sky in a brilliant golden light. This quickly ended as we crashed right into something, knocking the wind right out of us. As we regained our focus, I saw the inside of what was obviously a ship. A **geth** ship.

"Way to go, numbskull," I groaned as my hand made contact with his arm. You just crashed us into his ship."

"Well," he said with a small grin on his face, "might as well have some fun while we're here. You have any more grenades?"

Realization forming in my head as I understood what he was planning, I handed him three grenades as I saw blood trickling down his broadsword. Noticing my concern, he held it up and said "Oh, this? I managed to take a swipe at Saren on our way up. Definitely think I managed to cut something, though it would be a miracle if I managed to take off his head."

I began to have a sense of awe for him. He managed to maim (or possibly kill) the mastermind of the attack on Eden Prime while we were traveling at a speed where visibility was impossible. I swear, this kid is something else.

"Yeah," he said, "I am swag."

An amused grin began to grow on my face. "So, what's the plan?"

"I was thinking we run around, cause massive amounts of destruction, wipe out a few geth. If we're lucky, we can use these grenades to bring this ship down, therefore stranding Saren if he's still alive."

If there was any sign of him joking, I didn't see it. Deciding to just go with the flow, I shrugged and took out my shotgun after handing my Lancer assault rifle to him. "Here, kid, use this. You left your Locust down below."

Grinning like crazy, he looked down the thing's sights as he held it in his hands. "Thanks. By the way, the name's not kid. It's Guardian."

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

We were having the time of our lives; shooting up geth everywhere we went, blowing up a few critical systems, even managing to throw out a few **BOOYAHKASHA**'s while swinging the broadsword around. It was like Christmas in July, crossed over with "in Space."

Looking briefly at a screen, I noticed something unexpected: there was a prison area on this ship, and someone was in it.

"Hey," I called out to Ashley, "there's a prisoner on this ship!"

Gazing at the screen, a concerned look spread across her face. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would the geth take someone prisoner?"

"Who cares?!" I practically screamed. "We can't just leave that person here to die! We have to save them!"

A few moments of silence followed as she contemplated. She then nodded, and went along our merry, geth-killing way to the prisoner's cell. When we got there, however, we had the misfortune of getting cornered by the geth.

"Go, I'll cover you!" screamed Ashley as she shot a few geth with her pistol.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" I screamed over the gunfire. This caused her to look at me like I didn't trust her.

"Hey, never underestimate the destructive power of a marine," she said as she raised her shotgun toward a geth rocket trooper, "**AND HER BOOMSTICK!**" She accentuated that last part with a Carnage blast from the shotgun, completely obliterating the unfortunate synthetic's torso and head.

Deciding to take her word on it, I turned my attention to the prisoner's door and placed some Omni-gel that I received from Ashley on the console. A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing a darkened room with a figure curled up on a bunk. It was bright enough to make out that the figure was shivering in fear. "Wait," the figure said with caution, "y-y-you're not Saren. Or a geth, either. Wh-who are you?"

The figure's voice was female, though it gave off a somewhat synthetic distortion. Lowering my weapon, I calmly walked toward her. "I'm a friend, here to rescue you," I said with genuine care in my voice.

This seemed to get her to be more trusting, as she slowly got off the cot and walked toward me. She was about my height, and she was wearing a hood over her head. I noticed that she had three fingers on each hand. Her legs were shaped a bit oddly, and her feet each had two toes on the front, and one toe on the left and right sides of her feet. What really got my attention was what was on her face: a clouded mask, with two dim lights were her eyes should be.

"What do the geth want with a live quarian? I thought they wanted to kill your kind."

She shrunk a bit at my question. "They took me alive because I have information on their boss. That turian bastard, Saren Arterius," she said weakly.

My ears pricked up at that. She had info on the S.O.B.? What kind? "Listen, he just attacked Eden Prime. If this info can get him arrested, would you help us?"

Her head pricked up at that. "Hell yes," she said. "If it means seeing that bosh'tet suffer, I'll gladly help you."

I smiled at that. "Then I hope you can fight, because we still need to get off this ship, miss…"

She took my assault rifle and primed it. Turning toward me, she sweetly said "It's Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

* * *

**(Dun-dun-duuuuunnnn! Things are getting interesting! And yes, I know that everything from this fight against Saren to my first meeting with Tali is non-canon. It's called being original. What do you think will happen next? Read and review, please. And if you have any ideas for this fic, please include them in your reviews. WARNING: FLAMERS WILL BE BURNED ALIVE! P.S., a cookie will go to whoever guesses who shows up next chapter.)**


	6. Prologue, Final

**(Author's Note: I own nothing Mass Effect related. All that is mine is this plot, its Original Characters, and any/all original devices and/or powers/abilities that I create in this story. With that out of the way, read on!)**

"Regular Speaking"

_Thoughts_

"_Talking over radios"_

_**REAPER MENTAL COMMUNICATIONS**_

* * *

** Prologue, Final: Welcome to the _Normandy_**

* * *

_Unknown POV:_

* * *

_Why can't we ever get easy, simple missions?_

This was running through my mind as I just received a mission update from the ground team. To sum it all up: everything had gone to Hell in a hand basket. The geth were destroying Eden Prime's colony, Nihlus was dead, and the one behind it all was a rogue Spectre named Saren.

What really got to me, though, was what the geth were doing to the colonists. Turning them into those…_things_. And we couldn't do anything about it. If we got here a few hours earlier, maybe we could've made a difference, but now…

"You okay, son?"

I turned around to find Captain Anderson walking over to the table I was sitting at, noticing how I barely touched my food. And it was steak, potatoes, and carrots. My favorite foods! As the old codger sat himself down in front of me, he had the same look in my eyes that I did right now. A look of regret. Guess he just got the update now, too.

With a weak smile, I replied "No, not really, sir."

He returned my smile and put his hand on my shoulder. "We can't always save them all, Steve. You know that."

I hung my head at that. He was right, of course, but it didn't help me feel any better. During the Blitz, I had sworn that I would protect everyone that I could. It was that promise to myself that kept me alive. It was what helped me save Elysium. But I couldn't help but wonder afterwards if I could have saved more.

Anderson could tell what I was thinking and gave me a stern look. "Stop beating yourself up about it. If we tried to save everyone, we'd just end up going crazy. And I need you in your right mind to kick Saren's turian ass across the galaxy."

That made me smile even wider as I let out a chuckle. Raising myself from the chair I brought myself into a salute. "Sir, yes sir!"

Returning my smile, he got up and went towards his cabin when Joker called over the comms. "Captain, we've got a priority call coming in from Eden Prime. I think you'll want to hear this."

"Thanks, Joker," Anderson said glumly.

Head sinking down at the prospect of not getting some relaxation before the ground team got back, he turned and headed to the comm room with me following close behind. If this was a priority call, then that means something else happened down there.

As we walked through the CIC and entered the comm room, Joker called out "Uh, sir? I just checked the message again. It's using an Alliance frequency, but…I think it's coming from a geth ship."

Our faces lit up in shock at that. We were both thinking the same thing: why was the call coming from a geth ship? Using an Alliance frequency at that. Cautiously, he reached out and activated the comms.

"This is Captain David Anderson of the _SSV Normandy_. Identify yourself."

The screen started focusing on the figure making the call. It was a female human, clad in white armor with pink accents. I could instantly tell she was making this call in the middle of a firefight, as two other figures were ducked behind cover only to quickly shoot at something before getting back to safety.

_Wait a minute,_ I thought. _That's the soldier from the earlier transmission. What the hell is she doing in a-_

"…_peat, this is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. Can anyone read me, over? Dammit, someone please-*__**BLAM***__-__**SHIT!**__ I am trapped on a geth ship with a quarian and another human. If anyone can hear this respond-GRENADE!"_

She instantly ducked behind a crate before an explosion distorted the image. Running over, I said "We hear you loud and clear, Williams. You mind telling me **why **you're on a geth ship, or how you got on in the first place?"

She immediately responded. _"Me and Guardian, the other human, we were fighting a turian named Saren when he tried getting away. He used a Charge attack to try and take him down. I grabbed him to try and stop him, but I got pulled along for the ride. We missed him, though, and crashed into the-__***PING***__-__**SON OF A BITCH!**__"_

With another shot barely missing her, she turned around and fired a Carnage shot at what I could only assume was a geth. Turning back, she said _"If its not too much to ask, we could use an emergence rescue, sir!"_

Looking at Anderson, hoping that he would agree, he said "Transmit your coordinates and we'll bring the ship in to pick you up. I suggest finding an exit first, then send a signal so we can find you."

"_Aye, aye, sir! Uploading coordinates now. Hurry though, sir, I don't know how much longer we can hold out."_

The transmission cut out after that, followed by static and a ping on the terminal. Anderson called out "Joker, take us to these coordinates. We've got an emergency rescue to pull off."

"_Aye, aye, sir."_

Turning toward me, he said"Head down to the cargo bay. I want you to make sure we don't get any unwanted guests."

Grinning profoundly, I replied "Yes, sir."

As I headed out, Anderson said "One more thing." I stopped and turned around, seeing concern in his eyes. "Be careful, kid."

"Please, sir," I said enthusiastically, "I'm Commander Steve Shepard. I fought off 10,000 batarians. I think I can hold off a few robots."

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

**"If I never have to go into another geth ship again, I'll die a contented human!"** I cried out over a hail of gunfire.

**"That makes two of us!"** replied Ashley.

I still cannot believe she talked me into this. When she said she had an idea for getting out of this ship, I was ecstatic. Until she got to the part about us having to go deeper into the ship. Mainly the communication center. The way to it crawling with geth, according to Tali. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Ashley was crazy.

And so, against my better judgment, Ashley, Tali, and I began to cut a swath through the crowd of geth that stood in our way. On the minus side, they were trying to do us what we were doing to them. On the plus side, we got to blow shit up on the way. If we manage to bring this thing crashing to the ground with Saren on it, I was going to call this a good day.

That's when I remembered: what if Saren was still alive, and on this ship? If we were lucky, then he would try to recuperate from the attack from the broadsword slash I inflicted. However, seeing as the universe is a total dick in these kinds of situations, I had to assume that he had enough strength to hunt us down and turn us into paste.

Oh well. If that came to be, I was going to make sure I went out fighting. And I still had one last bullet in my Dessert Eagle .50 reserved especially for him. With an evil grin on my face, I let myself look forward to when that happened.

"Um, are you okay?" Tali asked nervously.

Her question snapped me back into reality. I guess she noticed the look on my face and, unsurprisingly, was a bit unsettled by it. "Uh, yeah," I quickly replied as I felt a blush growing on my face. "I'm fine, just fine. Fine, fine, fine. You fine? Because I am. Totally fine." God, if you have any pity on me, strike me down now.

Giggling at my fumbling, she replied "If you say so…I'm sorry, I don't even know you're name."

"Oh, that's right," I said as I slapped myself on the forehead. Stretching my hand forward, I said "For now, you can call me Guardian. Pleasure to meet you, miss Zorah nar Rayya." Taking my hand, she shook it and nodded in response.

"Um, maybe you two can socialize more **after** we get off this damn ship?!"

Ashley punctuated her statement with a report from her pistol, which impacted dead center into one of the geth's faces. Deciding to take her up on her suggestion, Tali and I raised our weapons and joined her in the glorious carnage that was killing rogue geth.

48 seconds later, the geth attacking us were turned into scrap metal. Smoking, residue leaking scrap metal. God, I loved using guns. The best part of them was that using them didn't leave me with fatigue, unlike my mysterious biotic powers. I figured that eventually using them wouldn't be a hassle, but for now, I was limiting how much I used. Especially after the brief supercharge used to take down the Titan mech.

Deciding to not stick around, we headed out of the comm room and began looking for something that resembled an exit. Then a thought hit me. "Wait a minute." At that, Tali and Ashley turned to look at me. "What do we do if the ship is already in space? I mean, won't we pretty much be screwed?"

"Don't worry," Tali said reassuringly. "According to my Omni-tool data, we're still in the atmosphere of Eden Prime. Apparently the geth are waiting for something."

"Probably Saren," Ashley said. "He probably had an 'accident' on the way up here." Those air quotes and her statement helped to lay my worries to rest. Guess the universe decided to cut me enough of a break after all the crap I had gone through today.

Tali tilted her head at us confusingly. "Accident?"

"To clarify," I replied, "she means a probably fatal wound received from this big ass mother effing broadsword." I finished my statement by raising the broad sword into clear view. I noticed that Saren's blood was starting to dry off already, and with the lighting on this ship, it made the sword look kind of creepy.

"Oh. Nice job," the young quarian replied with a nod. Returning her nod, I sheathed my blade right before I felt a flare of pain hit my right shoulder, followed by me falling on my ass hitting the metal floor beneath me.

The pain seemed to drown out the noise around me. Deciding to check on my shoulder, I found that I had received yet **another** bullet hole in my poor shoulder. Seriously, if this keeps up, I'm going to need a cybernetic arm. Although it would be pretty cool. I wonder if I could have a blade put into it, along with a gun and/or a grappling hook function.

_Wait a minute. Why am I focusing on things for a robot arm when I just got __**SHOT IN THE SHOULDER?!**_

Trying to force myself up, I felt a shaking sensation and was suddenly pushed back to the ground by something heavy. Well, heavy enough to knock me back down. Forcing my eyes open from the pain, my face is immediately greeted with the sight of Tali's masked face, with her glowing eyes looking right into mine. I swear, it seemed that at that moment, the galaxy just stopped as we looked at each other.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I blushed and said "You, uh…you alright, Tali?" This seemed to bring her back to reality, as her head made a slight jolt as she realized she was lying on top of me. If I could see past her mask, I could probably see her face darkening with as much embarrassment, or maybe more, as I was feeling.

She quickly got up and tried to explain herself. Key word being **tried**. "Uh, um, well I, uh…eh heh, you see, uh, well, there Ashley used a grenade, but it was pretty powerful, so the explosion sent me stumbling, and I was trying to keep my balance by trying to grab something, but I tripped and-"

"It's okay, Tali," I said with a smile on my face. God, she was so cute when she was flustered. At that point, I thought I felt my heart speed up. _Huh. That was weird_.

"So," I nervously said, "any ideas on where we're going, Ashley?"

"Yeah," she replied. "There should be a hangar coming up. We can try to meet up with the _Normandy_ from there. If we're lucky, we won't have to deal with a lot of geth."

* * *

_Tali's POV:_

* * *

**"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT US BEING LUCKY, CHIEF?!"** Guardian shouted over the gunfire.

**"SHUT UP AND KEEP SHOOTING!"** replied an obviously pissed off Ashley.

Keelah, why can't the galaxy ever cut us a break? The way to the hangar was clear of geth, but the second we walked in, we were met with about 37 geth units, which included Troopers, Rocket troopers, Hoppers, and a Geth Prime. Exactly two seconds later, they opened fire on us, forcing us to take cover behind a bunch of crates.

I quickly noticed a terminal next to me, and realized that I could probably open the hangar from there. Telling Guardian and Ashley about my idea, they decided to provide cover fire while I "worked my magic" as Guardian called it. Hearing that made me blush slightly, which brought my thoughts back to when I was lying on top of him a few minutes ago. Remembering the feeling of our bodily contact as we look at each other sent my heart beating at a quicker pace than usual. The fact that I was feeling ecstatic over his leading an effort to rescue me, however unintentional it was, made me feel even more embarrassed over that moment.

_Although,_ I thought to myself, _it's not like I didn't like it. I just hope that didn't weird him out, tho-_

The sound of a shot going past my head snapped me out of my train of thought, forcing me to shake my head in an effort to focus. I checked my Omni-tool, and saw that this was taking too long. Looking back to see if Guardian and Ashley were still focused on the geth, I decided to risk it. Raising my hand to the terminal, I focused on the machine until small bolts of pale blue lightning began to emanate from the palm of my hand. I began willing the terminal to allow me easier access, and a few seconds later, it complied. Hell, it allowed me **full** access to the terminal.

**"HOW'S IT COMING, TALI?"** asked Guardian. Looking at his shoulder, I saw that the medigel I put on was starting to wear off, allowing blood to begin running out again.

**"DON'T WORRY, IT SHOULDN'T TAKE TOO MUCH LONGER!"** I replied. After fifteen seconds of working through the terminal, I finally found something: _AUTOMATED DEFENSE SYSTEMS_, with a _FRIEND FROM FOE_ system right next to it. With a mischievous smile growing on my face, I immediately started working on the systems. After my work was done, turrets came down from the ceiling.

**"EVERYONE, HIT THE DECK!"** I screamed as the turrets began to power up. As we all hid behind the crates, the turrets opened fire. Right at the geth shooting at us.

30 seconds later, the turrets stopped firing. The three of us slowly peaked out to find the entire geth force trying to kill us reduced to a smoldering heap. "Holy crap," muttered a stunned Ashley. Looking at me in awe, she asked "How did you do that?!"

Shrugging, I said "It was easy, once you know what you're looking for." I noticed that Ashley was now looking at me with a newfound respect in her eyes. Guardian seemed to share the exact same look, though he had a wide grin on his face.

"That. WAS. **AWESOME!** You totally totaled those geth! I don't know how, but you did! You are by far a genius! A technological **genius**!" I blushed at his onslaught of praise. Keelah, I don't think I've ever received so many compliments from an alien directed at me since I started my Pilgrimage.

"Well, do you think you could work use your mojo to open the hangar?" asked an impressed Ashley. I nodded and turned back to work on the terminal. A few seconds later, we were greeted with the wind rushing into the hangar.

"Okay. Ashley, activate your beacon so the _Normandy_ can help us make like a banana and split," said Guardian. Looking at him, I tilted my head with confusion evident in my stance, something he was quick to notice. "It's a human expression."

"Oh, I see. Are all human expressions that odd?" I asked inquisitively.

"Actually," replied Ashley as she activated her Omni-tool's beacon, "I'm pretty sure there are some human expressions that confuse even humans."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yep. Now let's wait by the entrance so we can get onto the-"

She immediately stopped after she looked outside…and at the ground far below our feet. _Keelah, we must be ten miles in the air, at least!_

As Guardian looked down, he nervously exhaled and asked "I don't suppose we finally managed to make compact jetpacks, did we Chief?"

Turning to him, she nervously replied "Sorry, but I left it with my teleportation watch and my light saber in my apartment." That earned a chuckle from him, which confused me greatly. Why would these two be making jokes when we didn't know what to do?

Our attention was then drawn to the sound of a ship dropping into view about a good 30 feet away. It looked almost turian in design, but not quite. On the silver ship's hull was the name NORMANDY. I guess this was our ticket to safety.

"_Williams, you read me?"_

Brining her Omni-tool to her face, she said, "I read you, sir."

"_Good. Sorry we took so long, but we had to make an emergency pickup down below, as well as getting the ground team. Now, I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to get off the ship while it's airborne, do you?"_

Bringing his face to the Omni-tool, Guardian said "Just get your lower entrance open, sir. We'll take care of the rest."

There was a slight pause. _"Who exactly is this?"_

"Call me Guardian, sir. I'm a survivor of the attack on Eden Prime. I have in my company the last of the 212 and the only person who can help bring Saren to justice, if the bastard is still breathing. Now, open the hangar doors, sir, before we get any more visitors here!"

After a few seconds, the man on the other end replied _"All right, opening the hangar doors. I hope your plan is a good one."_

As the Omni-tool turned off, he quietly said "That makes two of us."

We then saw the hangar opening up, with a team of marines guarding the entrance. "Okay," I said, what's the plan?"

He looked at me with a grin that made me fell like I was going to regret asking. "We're gonna jump."

Yep. I knew it.

Before either of us could protest, he began to flare up his biotics-_Wait, since when are biotics the color __**gold**__?!_ He then grabbed the two of us and did the most stupidest move I could think of.

He Charged right out of the ship.

* * *

I don't think I could even hear myself scream as we shot through the sky, rocketing toward the _Normandy_. After what seemed like eternity (I later checked that it was only two seconds), we crashed into the hangar. Oddly enough, though, the impact didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Almost like something cushioned my-

My eyes shot open as I saw Guardian lying unconscious right behind me. He had taken the brunt of the impact for me and Ashley. He got hurt protecting us. Protecting me…

I shook myself out of my thoughts. _Down girl! You barely even know this man, so don't start fantasizing about anything!_

"Guardian, are you okay?!" I shouted. He wasn't responding. I was starting to hyperventilate. "Guardian? Guardian, are you all right?! GUARDIAN?! **GUARDIAN!**" I was shaking the unconscious man before me, starting to think the worst has happened. _No_, I thought. _He can't die! He can't!_

"Stand back, give him some air!" The voice behind me spoke with authority. I turned to see a gray-haired female human, probably in her late fifties, bending down to check on Guardian. Judging by her attire, I guessed she was the ship's doctor. "He's alive, but he's seriously injured. Help me get him to the med bay," she said to me.

"Uh, r-right!"

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I helped the doctor carry Guardian to the elevator. After laying him on one of the tables, I sat down outside. Keelah, I don't think I've ever been this anxious in my life. After about an hour, the doctor and two men, one an officer and the other a marine, came out of the med bay and toward me. "You two were with him?" asked the doctor.

"Yes, ma'am," replied Ashley. I didn't even notice she was here. Guess she's as worried as me.

"Well, without your assistance, I can only assume his injuries could have been much worse."

"Yeah," said Ashley. "The kid definitely has potential, but he's too cocky. He doesn't think straight, just rushes headlong into the thick of it."

The man simply chuckled. "Now, who does that remind me of, Steve?" he asked the marine next to him.

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny, Anderson," replied a sarcastic sounding Steve.

Anderson then turned his attention to us. "Look, miss…"

"Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Alright, Tali," he kindly said. "I won't lie to you. If what Steve said he heard from that Guardian kid is true, then that means Saren will be trying to silence you. If you promise to help us, then I can promise that we'll protect you as if our lives depended on it."

I thought it over for a minute before replying. "All right. But I'm doing this for Guardian, not you."

He simply smiled and said "Fair enough. How about you, Williams? Looking to get some payback?"

She stood up and saluted. "Hell yes, sir."

"Well then," Anderson said, "weclome to the _Normandy_."

* * *

_Saren's POV, 2 hours later:_

* * *

As I sat up from the operating table, I looked down to the symbol of my defeat in combat. My humiliation. My shame. Where my left arm once was, a geth arm was grafted onto my body, with ports connecting to various parts of my torso's left side.

It wasn't just my arm. His punch had damaged my face to the point that I needed geth tech grafted into it. As well as my eyes, which now glowed a faint, pale blue.

I was careless, there's no denying it. I had let my guard down against that man. That…_human_. As I was ascending to the geth ship to get off that planet, the boy had Charged past me. But not before using that sword of his to lop off my left arm. The pain was enough to knock me off my platform and into the forest below.

As I laid in the branches of the tree that broke my fall, my last thought before slipping into unconsciousness was how I had let that human get the better of me. About forty minutes later, a geth squad found me and got me back onto the ship. Just minutes after that human managed to escape with the quarian. If I wasn't so dizzy from the blood loss, I would either be furious at the geth's incompetence, or impressed that the human managed to survive getting off the ship with the quarian.

At the moment, though, I was ashamed. Ashamed that I had let this human best me.

Worse, I had to learn from Benezia that the colony was still intact, and the grenade I had thrown at the boy had knocked him **into** the beacon. He now had its knowledge. All because of me.

There was no excuse. I had failed.

_**DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.**_

I looked up with conviction in my now cybernetic eyes. "Don't worry. Not even **he **can stop what is coming. No one can."

* * *

**(Things are starting to get interesting up in here! How much do you think will change now that Tali is now a part of the crew? Better yet, what will happen to me? Just so you know, this is the last of the prologue chapters. Next chapter will be taking place on the Citadel, just so you know. Also, I will be taking a bit of a break in order to get inspired for writing the next chapter. Next chapter should be up in about 2 weeks. Until then, read and review, please. Also, NO FLAMERS, OR ELSE!)**


	7. Journey's Start, Pt 1

**At last! The OFFICIAL first chapter!**

**Sorry I took so long updating this fic. Studying for exams is a bitch. Anyway, on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I own nothing related to Mass Effect.**

* * *

**Journey's Start, Pt. 1: Aboard the **_**Normandy**_

* * *

_Anderson's POV:_

* * *

Steve had just got done filling me in on what he heard from this "Guardian" kid as we headed down to the med bay. My blood was pumping through my body at a quickening pace at what I was hearing. We had the key to bringing down Saren right here on our ship! But according to Steve, she wouldn't say anything until she was assured that Guardian was going to be fine.

As we walked into the med bay to check on the man who saved Chief Williams and our new quarian passenger, one thought entered my mind as I saw the kid lying on the table: _He looks like he just survived a bomb blast._

His armor, once white and gold, was melted so badly it couldn't be repaired. His helmet, strange in design, seemed to fare better than the rest of his armor. We had to spend the best part of a half hour dissecting his armor so Chakwas could get to work. Fortunately, Steve had came in with me, so he managed to help with caring for our patient.

After God knows how long, Dr. Chakwas finally managed to take off the last of his greaves, we were both taken aback at what we saw: everything below his left knee was robotic. I felt a bit sorry for him, as I thought about how he lost his leg.

Chakwas said something to me, but I didn't pay attention. My focus was solely on the man before me. There was something familiar about him. I don't know what exactly, but I felt like I met him before somewhere.

Steve carefully cut apart the helmet, and my mind went blank at the kid's face.

_It's him. My God, **it's him!**_

Sensing my shock, Steve asked "Is he going to be fine, doctor?"

"Yes," she said. "Most of his injuries are minor burns and a few gunshot wounds. His head received quite a hit when he, um, 'entered the premises,' but it's nothing major." Looking down at him, she continued "However, he seems to be showing an increase in rapid eye movement, usually associated with intense dreaming."

"Doctor," I said with my voice barely containing my shock, "as of right now, this kid is your top priority. Make sure that noting happens that could adversely affect him, mentally or otherwise." Nodding in agreement, I turned to Steve and said "Come on, let's tell our new passengers the good news."

As we exited the med bay, I thought to myself only one thing:

_Where the **Hell** have you been all this time, Michael?_

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

_Ugh. Why do I feel like I'm lying on an operating table? Again._

Allowing myself, albeit reluctantly, to open my eyes to take in my surroundings, I first notice how dimly lit it is in this room. I then realize from the smell of antiseptic that I'm in a doctor's office. _Well, I guess that would explain the operating table…wait, where the __**fuck**__ am I?_

Reluctantly brining my head up, I took notice of a sensation on my right hand. Like something was lightly latched onto it. Looking to my right, I found myself surprised to find the sleeping form of Tali by my side, her head resting in her arms as she laid them by my side. Putting two and two together, I realize that the feeling is her gloved hand holding mine.

_Wow. I never would have expected waking up to find a girl sleeping next to me…oh my God, did I seriously just think that? Man, I have got to get my head out of the gutter. Or find myself a girlfriend._

"Mmm."

I turned to my left and found Ashley asleep, propped up in a chair with her head hanging down. I guess she was really worried about me. _Okay, one girl sleeping next to me is one thing, but two? I-no, no, don't go there, Michael, don't __**even**__ go there._

Then a thought hit me: why was I in a doctor's office? I was then met with a searing pain in the back of my head as I recalled crashing into the cargo bay of the _Normandy_, positioning myself so that I would take the brunt of the impact away from Tali and Ashley. _Oh, yeah. That's why._

Realization suddenly dawned on me: I was on the _Normandy_. **The** _Normandy_! The ship of Commander Shepard! I decided to catalog this away for when I allowed myself to finally geek the geek out as I let the whole situation sink into me.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas, he's awake!" Ashley's call for the good doctor brought me back to reality as the gray-haired doctor walked towards us. As I focus on her, I notice that she seemed to look a bit younger than she did in the game, with a few less wrinkles and a bit more darkness in her hair. Other than that, she was exactly the same.

The call also brought Tali out of dreamland and back to the realm of those who were awake. Looking at where our hands connected, she took in a few seconds to fully comprehend it before she jumps up and pulls her hand away. I could tell that she was really blushing under that mask.

"How are you feeling?" asked Chakwas.

Groaning, I answered "Like I just drank three kegs of beer…and jumped off a roof to flatten them." This earned a chuckle from everyone in the room, most noticeably from Tali. I swear, she has the cutest laugh. Speaking of beer, if memory serves, Tali is **hilarious** when intoxicated.

"Makes sense. You hit yourself on the head when you crash landed into the cargo bay," Chakwas stated. "That, coupled with the time spent fixing up your injuries, had you out like a light for the past 15 hours."

"Huh. Well, with all the shit that went down today, I think I deserved some much needed sleep."

"Ya got that right, ya crazy bugger," replied a familiar Scottish accent. I turned my attention to the door leading out of the med bay and found the familiar form of Kerry walking toward me. As a smile grew on my face, I noticed three others right behind her. The first figure I immediately recognized as Captain David Anderson. My God, just standing in his presence made you relax.

To his right was a female with short, wavy red hair. Her eyes were a deep emerald green, with full red lips helping to accentuate her softly curved, porcelain white skin. What caught my attention was the fact that she was in armor. N7 armor. _Wow. So this is what Shepard looks like in this universe. Beautiful, yet deadly._

To Anderson's left was a man with blonde hair, neatly trimmed and styled like it was from the 1940s. He was slightly taller than Anderson, with an Olympian physique to match. His eyes, like Shepard's, were emerald green, and his skin tone was a few shades darker than hers'. Framing his face was a warm, friendly smile. _Something tells me I can trust this guy. Not with __**everything**__, though._

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly possessed you to biotically Charge toward a geth ship in the first place?" asked the blonde-haired man. Before I answered, I took in a second to hear his voice. Something about it was familiar, like I had heard it before.

Looking at him with a nervous laugh, I said "Couldn't find a cab." That earned a few chuckles from everyone in the room. Except Shepard, who was looking at me like I was an idiot. Well, I couldn't blame her, seeing as I almost got myself killed up there. "Though to be honest, I was aiming for Saren. I at least managed to hit some part of him on my way up though."

"Williams told us about that while you were out. She also told me about how you risked your life to try and rescue miss nar Rayya while you were up there," said Anderson.

"Well, I couldn't just leave someone at the mercy of the geth." Looking down, I continued "I already saw enough of that down on Eden Prime." As those words left my mouth, I thought back to the horror that I saw down there. I would never forgive Saren for what his forces did down there. What **he** was responsible for.

Putting his hands on my shoulder, Shepard looked at me sympathetically and said "For what it's worth, you did the right thing." I smiled at that. I personally thought what I did was the right thing to do, and I think that's all that matters. But it was nice to hear that from her.

"Thanks, Shepard."

Smiling warmly at me, she said "Please, when we're not on a mission, it's Natasha."

"Okay, Natasha," I replied warmly.

Walking over to me, the blonde-haired man extended his hand. Taking his hand into a handshake, he said "I'm her brother, by the way. Steven Shepard."

…

_Wait. What?_

"Uh, sorry. Did you say Shepard?" I nervously said.

"Yeah," answered Kerry. "He's a Shepard, alright. Doin' crazy ass, life-endangerin' stunts runs in their blood. Steve's little escapade on Elysium is a testament ta that."

Okay. So there are **two** Shepards to deal with. One of them is a war hero, while the other is a Renegade (or maybe Renegon) Sentinel. Looking to Kerry, Ashley asked "What did Natasha do that was 'crazy-assed,' exactly?"

"She took on a thresher maw single handedly. No tank. No bombs. Jus' her gun an biotics," she replied matter-of-factly.

Looking at Natasha with a look of exasperation on my face, I took a few seconds before preparing to ask "What possessed you to do **that**?!" Tali beat me to the punch though.

Natasha then lost some of the light in her eyes. With a sad smile on her face, she looked down and said "Losing your whole squad tends to make you go a bit nuts."

Damn. She was a Sole Survivor. I…I can't even imagine what it's like to lose everyone like that. Though after less than a day of being around people who lost friends and loved ones, I think I've got a good idea. My eyes shot up and I said "The others. From the lab. Where are they?"

"You'll be happy to know that they're all safe and sound aboard the _Normandy_, thanks to Jenkins," replied Chakwas. Glancing down, she continued "I wish Jenkins were as fortunate."

A feeling of dread sank into my stomach. "You mean…"

"He'll live," said Ashley reassuringly. "Though from what I heard from Captain Anderson, he may never walk again. He took a shot to the spine protecting the others. It's…pretty bad."

I look down glumly. He may have survived the mission, but he would never go into the field again because of me. How could I look him in the eyes after this. "Where is he now?"

"Back on Eden Prime," said Anderson. "After we went to pick the survivors from the lab, he asked us to take him to a part of the colony the geth left alone. There's a good medical facility, and his father's a doctor there, so he'll be in good hands. Also," he said turning to Steve and Natasha, "he asked me to tell you two to bring Saren down. Preferably with a bullet."

The siblings smiled at that, while I hung my head and said "Yeah, well they can get in line."

Anderson looked confused at my statement. Thankfully, Natasha answered "He lived on Eden Prime, sir. The way I see it, he's as entitled to payback as anyone else here." That earned me stares from Anderson and Kerry. The former's was one of confusion (though **why** I have no idea), while Kerry's simply said _They actually __**bought**__ that?_

"All right, I'd like to speak with this Guardian fellow," said Anderson. Turning to Ashley and Tali, he continued "In private." They got the hint, and got up to follow the others out (Tali a bit more reluctant than the others). Before disappearing from my sight, I gave Kerry a look that said _We're going to have a talk about my gear, later_. Smiling at that, the doors slid shut.

A few seconds later, Anderson did something I would **never** have seen coming in a million years: he broke into a huge smile and grabbed me in a massive bear hug.

Seriously, **W.T.F.?!**

"I can't believe it!" he said laughing. "It's you! It's really you!"

Feeling the life drain out of me as he tightened his hug, I barely managed to say "Yeah, it's me. Can you…let go now? Getting…hard to…breathe…here…" Coming to his senses, he let me go and allowed me to inhale the gloriousness that was breathable air.

After getting my second wind, Anderson happily said "I almost didn't believe it. To think that I'd run into you again **here** of all places. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to see you again, Michael." My mind went into brief shock at that. We had met before?

Suddenly, his smile melted into a mixture of hurt and anger. "And on that note…where the **HELL** have you been all this time?!" The sudden change in his attitude sent me jumping slightly. "A whole year, with no contact from you. Not knowing where you were, if you were even alive. Do you have any idea how much grief you put Kahlee and I through, young man?!"

Before he could continue, I held up my hands defensively and said "Whoa, easy there, sir! I literally don't know what you're talking about. I can't even remember what happened before that whole debacle on Eden Prime, so how can I even answer questions like that?! And what do you mean, 'you and Kahlee,' anyway?"

He looked at me in disbelief. About a minute later, he calmly answered "You really don't remember, do you?" I shook my head slightly. Bringing his hand up to the bridge of his nose, he sighed. He then went on to say "Alright, I need you to stay calm right now, okay?" Nodding, I looked intently at him as he said "You're my adoptive son."

…

…

…

_**WWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT?!**_

"Wh…what do you…I mean…huh?"

"You heard me. You're my stepson, Michael. Kahlee and I first met you…God, about two years ago?" he said nostalgically. Chuckling, he continued "Our first meeting was, rough, to say the least. We were being chased by a hit squad, and you…well, taking them down would be understating it. It was about three months afterwards that we adopted you." He looked down, his face wearing a hurt expression. "Nine months later, you disappeared without a word. Only info we managed to get was that you were following a lead on whoever hired that hit squad."

I was literally stunned beyond words. I was in the Mass Effect universe for **TWO WHOLE YEARS?!** Not only that, but I had become Anderson's adopted son, too?! Why the hell can't I remember shit like that?! Note to self: ask Hikari to get rid of anything that's blocking my memories next time I see her. It. Whatever the hell Hikari is!

"Well," I said calmly and nervously, a shit-eating grin on my face, "how's mom been?"

A few seconds later, he whacked me in the back of the head. "Scared to death over you, young man. We'll talk about that later, though. I also came here to know what happened to you when you hit that beacon."

Ah. Right. Almost forgot that. Looking at the floor, I said "I saw…I saw the destruction of the Protheans, sir. They were slaughtered by a race called, the Reapers. From what I saw," I trailed off, sickened by the horrors that I had witnessed, "well, let's just say there are some things man was never meant to see."

Anderson was how I was mere minutes ago: too shocked to even say anything. I couldn't blame him, though. He was just told that the Protheans' mysterious disappearance was due to the Reapers wiping them out. If I told him the truth about the Reapers, he would probably have a heart attack. "That's…you can't expect me to believe that, Michael," he said unconvinced.

"Well," said Tali standing by the door, "it would explain this." She then tinkered with her Omni-tool a bit before bringing up the geth recording.

"_The beacon is on Eden Prime. We will get it, and be one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

"_And one step more to the return of the Reapers."_

"I managed to get that from a geth unit that strayed away from its group," explained Tali. "That recording is the reason Saren captured me. He wanted me to give it up to him."

Continuing to carry a stunned expression, he said "How did he manage to get you?"

Looking down, she answered "I tried to get protection from Saren via the Shadow Broker. Instead, one of his agents, Fist, sold me out to Saren." Growling lowly, she continued "When I find that bosh'tet, I swear I'll-"

"Easy, Tali," I said reassuringly. "He'll get what's coming to him. In the meantime, I'd say her recording is enough to get Saren arrested, don't you think, sir?"

Anderson lit up at that. "You're right! Even if the Council doesn't believe the part about the Reapers, that recording proves Saren's a traitor!" Calming himself down a bit, he said "I have to call Udina. Have him set up a meeting with the Council. In the meantime, get some rest, you two. You earned it."

As he walked out of the med bay, I turned to Tali with a thankful smile on my face. "Thanks."

"No problem," she replied. "I doubt he would have fully believed you if I didn't play the recording."

"Speaking of, how did you manage to get that recording? I thought the geth always fried their memory cores if they got captured or killed."

Turning to the doorway, I saw the familiar face of Joseph as he was leaning on the door. Next to him was a man with a Middle Eastern complexion, with a white streak running down the left side of his shoulder length black hair. He looked to be about in his early 30's, with a look in his eyes that said he's seen things that would break a weaker man. What caught my attention though was the armor he was wearing: black armor with a skeletal design on the chest plate, all while wearing a black trench coat.

"Her people created the geth, Joseph," Malak said to his partner in mercenary work. "If they are quick enough, they can usually salvage bits and pieces of information from their databanks."

Tali's body language clearly said that she was surprised. "Th…that's right. How did you know that?" she asked.

Looking at her, Joseph replied "He makes it a matter to know about other's cultures and past. From there, he can gain a perspective on their people as a whole, and can become closer to better understanding others." Smiling he said "Plus, he hates it when others diss or hassle other quarians."

Now both Tali and I were surprised. "Wow. And here I thought I'd never meet another human who would even bother with quarians."

Turning his attention to me, Malak continued "The quarians are a wonderful people. Anyone who says otherwise are either racists or fools." Frowning, he went on saying "Besides, to claim that an entire race is unworthy of compassion based on a single mistake is unjust. It's that reason why I left Citadel space when I found out that the Council did **nothing** to help the quarians."

_Okay. I guess I'm glad that he doesn't irrationally hate aliens._ Smiling at Malak, I said "Nice to meet such an open-minded person like you, Malak." Walking up to him, I extended my hand to him for a handshake, which he gladly returned. "By the way, I couldn't help wondering, but doesn't Malak mean 'Angel' in Islamic faith?"

Smiling, he replied "That is right. My full name is Malak al-Maut, the name that the Qur'an uses for the 'angel of death,' which is a title used to refer to-"

"Azrael," I finished incredulously.

Giving me a surprised look, he asked "Yes. I'm surprised that you know that though. Considering you have amnesia, that is."

Brining my hand up to my face, I replied "I still remember bits and pieces, though nothing important to tell me what exactly happened to me before Eden Prime."

"Don't worry," Joseph said reassuringly. "It'll come to you eventually. This isn't something you can force."

"Yeah, I know. It's just so frustrating, not knowing something about your own past." Briefly pausing, I let a smile form on my face before continuing "Though now I know that I have a family, even if it's an adoptive one."

"That's it," said Malak, "try to focus on the good for now instead of the bad." Patting me on the shoulder, he said "Well, we'll leave you two alone for now. And Guardian, Kerry and the others are in the cargo hold if you want to talk to them."

Nodding, I watched them walk out the door before turning to Tali. "So," I said, "want to go talk to the rest of my group?"

* * *

_Malak's POV:_

* * *

Guardian and Tali walked out of the med bay soon after us, heading to the elevator and down to the cargo hold.

"Hey, miss Williams," I said to the young marine as Joseph and I sat down next to her, "don't you think those two make such a cute couple?"

Looking right at me, she chuckled and said "Yeah. Though I doubt that they know it yet." She paused for a few seconds before saying to Joseph "Thanks for…helping Greta down there, by the way. She wouldn't have wanted to live like that. No one would…"

A glum look growing on his face, Joseph said "Yeah. That was…that was just messed up. Turning those people into those **things**. Those…**monsters**." He practically spat out those last words, his fists shaking in anger. "When I find Saren, he's getting a blade right in his back. Count on it."

Joseph was always an emotional guy, preferring to let his heart do the talking instead of his head. That helped earn him the nickname "The Bleeding Heart of Torfan." After he found out what happened in the compound, he rushed down and tried to help any survivors, both human **and** batarian. When he saw the dead on both sides, I had found him crying his eyes out. He was a bleeding heart all right. That's what made him human.

But it's also his most dangerous aspect, as he never thinks about the consequences to his actions. Hell, he almost got shot to death by the Butcher himself for trying to save batarian lives. If it wasn't for me, Joseph would be dead right now, and the Butcher would still have his limbs. Thankfully, I was there.

He was one of the most human of human beings I had ever met. And I wouldn't have him any other way. Putting a hand on his shoulder, I said to him "I'm pretty sure Guardian and miss Williams already called first dibs, my friend. If you're hell-bent on the bastard's death, get in line with them."

Grinning like an idiot, he asked miss Williams "May I _please _have the honor of joining you in your endeavor to kill Saren, my fair lady?"

Playfully punching him in the arm, she replied "Call me that again, and I'll make sure your guns fail on you at the **worst** possible time." Turning to me, she then said "And Malak, if you're planning to join this crew like you said, then you can call me Ashley."

Chuckling, I said "Okay, Ashley."

Leaning back, Joseph said "Well, here's to us! The crew of the person who we all know is gonna bring Saren down!"

Smiling, Ashley said "And to the Big Guy up top, making our meeting possible!" Reaching for her glass, she continued with "Here's hoping He keeps us safe!"

I looked at her with surprise evident on my face. "I didn't think I'd meet anyone else on this ship who followed one of Earth's religions."

Frowning, Ashley replied "Hey, just because we're able to travel through space doesn't mean there isn't a higher power at work. I mean, hello, how can you look out into space and **not** believe in something?"

I grinned at that. She was right, of course. I could never understand why someone wouldn't have faith in religion. Granted, after humanity discovered alien life existed, religions took a major loss in followers, but still!

Ashley then noticed something I said. "Wait, _another_? You have religious beliefs, too?"

I nodded. "Let me guess. You're…Catholic?"

She nodded in turn. "Dead on. You?"

I paused for a few moments. "…Muslim."

An awkward silence filled the room, only interrupted by Joseph releasing a sigh. "Well," he said, "this is gonna be interesting. Right?"

_Thwack!_

One punch later, and he's out like a light. _Allah, give me strength._

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

"What do you mean 'of course it malfunctioned?!'" I asked Kerry.

Taking a deep breath, she replied "Jus' what I meant. The shield, sword, practically all the tech we put in yer armor were prototypes. It means all the stuff they're meant ta do was all **in theory**."

Shaking my head in defeat, I said "Great. So what am I going to use against Saren? A freaking **discus**?!"

"Hey," Anton said defensively, "don't be worrying too much. Those were prototypes, yes. However, we never said we haven't being testing newest weapon lining for your arsenals."

Before I could try to make sense of his broken English, Alala cut in. "What he means is, those prototypes were from the time we first brought you to Eden Prime. Since then, we managed to create a more perfected line of armor and weapons. They're in one of our bases in Shin Akiba."

"So you mean…"

"That's right," she said. "As soon as we get onto the Citadel, we're getting you outfitted with our best equipment."

"As well as getting you a private convo wit' the Illusive Man," continued Kerry.

I frowned at that. "I hope you don't think I'm going to like working for xenophobic assholes like Cerberus. Even if you guys saved my life."

"Ya don' have ta like workin' wit' us," Kerry said. "And don' think that everyone in Cerberus joined because they hate aliens. A lot of us joined to protect humanity and its interests."

Giving her a look that said _Yeah, whatever,_ I said "We'll see if you keep that attitude in a few months."

Before anyone can question what I meant, Tali ran up to me excitedly. "This ship is amazing, Guardian! Can you imagine how many credits it cost the Alliance to build this?" She was so cute when she got all fan girlish about a ship. Especially a cutting edge ship like this.

"Actually," I said to her, "scuttlebutt around the crew said this ship was a cooperative project between the Alliance and the turian Hierarchy. You can also just tell from the ship's design that the turians helped to make this."

Everyone within earshot looked at me in shock. Including all the Cerberus scientists behind me. "Wow," replied an awestruck Tali. "After the Contact War, I wouldn't think the turians and the Alliance would willingly work together on a single ship."

"Yeah, the turians sure gave them a run for their money in the war."

"You said it," replied a groaning Donald. Despite being near the brink of death nearly a day ago, he seemed to be recovering well. Well enough to move about a bit, at least. "If it wasn't for the quarian fleet's help, I doubt humanity would've came out of that war with minimal casualties."

"Ain't that the…wait," I said, "what are you talking about?"

Now everyone was looking at me with confusion. "Guess that amnesia was worse than we thought," Alice quietly said to herself.

"What?"

Walking over to me, Alala said "It was around the time humanity started working on activating the Mass Relays. In 2156, humanity discovered an alien fleet. The quarian fleet." Pausing to look at my dumbfounded expression, she continued "Apparently, two human brothers-twins, in fact-learned of the quarians and guided the two races into meeting each other. Humanity decided to send Hannah Shepard and the _SSV Einstein_ to make first contact with them. Long story short, humanity made their first intergalactic allies. Soon after, they found out from the quarians about why they were living on a fleet of ships, and gave them a home in Alliance space. I can only imagine how overjoyed they were," she said with a smile.

Letting the smile become a frown, she continued "A year later, the turians, who were assigned to find out what happened to the quarians, managed to find out that we were giving them sanctuary in our systems. They then decided it was okay to attack us for violating Citadel laws. Granted, we learned about Citadel laws from they quarians. And we still gave them sanctuary, even after we found out how they became space-faring pariahs. They demanded we cast out the quarians. We decided to blast them out of the sky. Humanity and the quarians then came together against the turians in what we have come to call the Contact War.

"Our side managed to win the war by three factors. First, we made contact with a group of Artificial Intelligences, and through means known only to the twins, managed to befriend them. Second, the quarians were able to give us insight to turian military doctrine, so we managed to outmaneuver their forces…90% of the time. Finally, the twins, by means not even they could understand, managed to find a way to expose to the Council what the turians were doing. With the full support of councilor Tevos, the Alliance managed to get the turians to agree to a ceasefire, with the turians giving full reparations to the quarians and humanity. **That**," she finished, "is the Contact War. Questions?"

I had none. My mind was blank.

"_This is your pilot speaking. We are about five minutes out from the Citadel, so please fasten your seatbelts and put away your drinks. Also, if you want a view, first timers, then you are advised to walk to the bridge in a calm and orderly fashion. Again, thank you for flying Air Joker. Have a pleasant day."_

That shook me out of my stupor. Tali and I rushed to the elevator (my God, why did they make it so **fucking SLOW?!**) and made our way to the cockpit, where Steve, Natasha, Kaidan, and Ashley were. "Hm," I said taking in my surroundings. "Cozy, isn't it?"

"Yeah, if you like showing people the sights while being in cramped quarters." Ah, you just learn to love Joker' sarcastic sense of humor.

"Look at it this way," I said. "if being an Alliance pilot doesn't work out, you can always go into the tour guide business."

Turning to look at me, Joker gave me a big smile and said "I think you and I are gonna get along just fine, kid."

Soon afterwards, we hit the relay and came out into the Serpent Nebula, Widow System. As we traveled through the clouds, we managed to gain a few glimpses of the Citadel's arms. A few seconds later, and the massive, five armed O'Neill Cylinder came into full view. As we stared in awe at the sight before us, something told me that things were only going to get harder from here on in.

* * *

**(DONE! Man, that was a long one. Sorry if it was a bit slow, but there will be action in the next chapter. After all, Wrex and Garrus are going to be in it. But what, exactly, will happen next? Read and review, but no flames. OR ELSE!)**


	8. Journey's Start, Pt 2

**So, yeah, it's been a while. Writer's block, college classes, and exam studying can do that to you. Plus, I lost internet connection for a while, so that was a bitch. Anywho, on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, its plot, its characters, ANYTHING that is Mass Effect.**

"Speaking"

_Thoughts_

"_Talking over radios/V.I. Speaking/Transmission"_

* * *

**Journey's Start, Pt. 2: Hello, TIM**

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

I have to say this about the Presidium: it looks a **lot** better in real life than in the game.

The _Normandy_ docked in the Citadel about half an hour ago. As Anderson and the ground team (myself, Tali, and the "Angels of Ruin" included) walked through the Presidium, we couldn't help but be awed by the beauty of our surroundings. The false sky in particular was extremely beautiful to watch, its fake clouds slowly crossing the blue behind it. What really got my attention was the trees. Yeah, they actually had real trees on the Presidium. Both from Earth and from the planets of every other Citadel race.

I also couldn't help but notice that we were drawing a lot of attention to ourselves. Though in the defense of those who lived on the Presidium, when a group of soldier armed to the teeth are walking through, you tend to take notice of something like that. I had to hold myself back from walking up and telling off the people who were looking at Tali like a piece of garbage. Something told me I would be in deep political shit if I accidentally pissed off the wrong guy, even if they deserved it.

Still, I couldn't help but be amazed that quarians were actually being allowed to walk amongst the people of the Presidium, even if they were required to be accompanied by a human at all times. It was definitely a major step forwards. However, it was cancelled out by the fact that neither quarians nor humans were allowed to bring A.I.s onto any part of the Citadel. I guess they just don't trust them enough, even if the Alliance explained that these A.I.s were friendly. _Eh, win some, lose some._

After about half an hour of walking, we finally reached the embassies. A short time later, we walked into the office of ambassador Udina, the representative of the humans, alongside a female quarian. Both were currently in a heated argument with the Council.

"**THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!"** cried Udina. You could practically see the veins in his head bulging and throbbing from across the room. **"THE COUNCIL WOULD STEP IN IF A TURIAN COLONY WAS ATTACKED!"**

Valern, the salarian councilor, brought his hand to his face. Rubbing his temples, he calmly replied "The turians don't build colonies near the Terminus systems, ambassador."

The female quarian stepped up. "But it's the duty of the Council to help those within their borders. You can't just sit back and do nothing!" Huh, her voice sounds familiar. Can't put my finger on it, though.

"She is right!" exclaimed Udina. Clenching his fist, he continued "You can't just let Saren get away with this! I demand action!"

Sparatus, the turian councilor, looked at Udina with contempt on his face. Pointing one of his fingers at Udina, he stated "You don't get to make demands of the council, **ambassador**." You could almost feel the venom dripping from that last word. Guess he was still angry at the outcome of the Contact War.

"Besides," said Tevos, the asari councilor, "humanity was well aware of the risks of making colonies so close to Terminus space. And the matter regarding your accusation against Saren will be addressed later, at the hearing."

"That is," said Sparatus, "if you even have any proof."

At that point, something inside me snapped a bit. I was overcome with the urge to just put the bastard in his place. Walking past Udina and the female quarian, I went up to the three holograms and said "Trust me, **councilor**, we don't just have proof, we have cold, hard evidence. The real question, though, is if you'll be willing to accept it as truth."

The Council's reaction was different then I imagined. I had expected them (especially Sparatus) to regard me with curious annoyance. However, their reaction was quite surprising: they were shocked to see me. Regarding me like a person they thought dead.

Tevos decided to break the silence. "M…Michael?"

Smiling, I replied "That's my name, don't wear it out." Bowing a bit, I looked up and asked "What's with the shock?"

Valern was the next one to collect himself. "The…shock, as you so aptly put it…is due to the fact that we thought you were dead."

"…Huh?"

Udina cleared his throat. "You would have to expect this, Michael. When someone disappears without a trace for an entire year, one tends to believe that the missing person is dead."

"Though apparently," Sparatus said, "you're too stubborn to die. A trait that I find both admirable **and** annoying."

Ignoring Sparatus, I managed to shake the fact that the Council pretty much thought I was dead. Or the fact that I was on a first name basis with Tevos. Speaking of which…"Um, out of curiosity," I nervously said, "what exactly was my relationship with you, councilors? You know, seeing as Councilor Tevos knows my first name."

The three councilors, Udina, and the female quarian all shared a look of confusion. Thankfully, Anderson was able to fill in the blanks here. "Michael has amnesia. He can't remember anything about his life before Eden Prime."

Tevos perked up at that. "You were on Eden Prime?"

"Yeah," I replied. Looking down at the ground, I continued "It was…pretty gruesome."

"And you said you had evidence that Saren was involved with the attack on Eden Prime?" Valern inquired. I nodded, realizing that my possible relationship with the Council could be a big advantage, as they could be more willing to accept our evidence.

"Then bring it with you to the hearing," Tevos said. "It will be held in five hours, so be well prepared. And Michael," she said with a smile, "it is good to see you again." With a grunt from Sparatus, the Council's holograms vanished.

At that point, Udina turned his full attention onto me. "Well, Michael, while I'm not necessarily happy to see you again, your reappearance couldn't be better timed. Maybe now the Council will finally listen to us."

Confusion evident in my face, I asked him "What do you mean?"

"What Udina means," the female quarian said, "is that through means none of us know, you managed to get the Council to be your willing allies. Particularly Tevos." Gesturing to Udina, she continued "And you can count on Donnel to use that to his advantage."

_Yeah, that sounds like Udina._ Turning my attention to the female quarian, I asked her "Sorry, I'm afraid I don't remember your name, miss…?"

"Auntie Raan!" exclaimed Tali.

Hearing the energetic quarians' joyful cry, Raan stared in shock as Tali ran over and hugged her. "Tali?! What are you doing here?"

"Guard-um, **Michael**, I mean, saved me from Saren's forces on Eden Prime. I figured that the least I could do to repay him would be to help bring the bosh'tet to justice." Raising her Omni-tool, she continued "Especially when I have **this**…"

Fiddling with the device a bit, she played the incriminating recording that would prove Saren's betrayal.

* * *

_Fist's POV:_

* * *

Things **literally** couldn't get any worse.

I get regular reports from my agents throughout the wards. Whether they're from my guys in C-Sec (like Harkin), black market dealers, or even mercs wandering around, the reports I get are good. It's those reports that help me know what's going on, and helps me get the advantage. That's helped me keep my spot as one of the big players in the Citadel's crime world.

Things got even better for me after I struck a partnership with Saren. I knew he hated humans, but we worked out a deal: I provide him with weapons and tech for his missions (along with the occasional witness to his rogue actions), and he gives me the freedom to do as I please on the Citadel. Everything was perfect.

But this report? It could cost me **everything**. One of my guys in the Presidium just got done telling me about the quarian I sold out to Saren. Not only was she rescued from his clutches, but she was now on the Presidium, still holding the evidence that implicates Saren with Eden Prime. She'll most likely have her saviors come here to kill me. Damned suit rat!

As if things weren't bad enough, the Shadow Broker recently found out that I betrayed him, and joined up with Saren. He must've been more pissed off than I thought, because he sent the last two mercenaries in the galaxy I wanted to see to kill me.

To reiterate: things can't get any worse.

The intercom buzzed. _"Sir, Saren is on the line."_

I stand corrected.

Bracing myself, I opened the link to allow Saren's holographic form to appear before me. "Uh, what is it, sir?" I asked nervously.

"_I've been made aware that the quarian is on the Citadel,"_ he said calmly. _"I want to know what you intend to do about it, Fist."_ The look in his eyes betray his emotions all too well: he'll kill me if I don't do something.

"Don't worry, sir!" I quickly replied. "I'll have my men take care of the quarian."

"_See to it that they do, Fist. Or else the next casualty in this little tale,"_ he said as he pointed one of his talons at my head, _"is __**you**__."_

The link ended at that. I gulped nervously, knowing that he meant every word. Thankfully, I know what to do. Calling up one of my squads closest to the Presidium, I said "Boys, I've got a high paying job for you." That gets their attention immediately.

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

The meeting with Raan and Udina went rather well, all things considered. We were set to meet them at the hearing in about five hours, which gave the eight of us enough time to wander around. Deciding to head toward the financial district, Tali and I went for a bit of shopping. Thankfully, Anderson told me that I had an account set up during my time with him and Kahlee, and there was **a lot **of credits in there (I don't think I've ever had that many zeros in an amount of money in my entire life), so I didn't have to worry about spending too much.

"How did you manage to get that many credits?" Tali asked with wonder in her voice. _You know, I don't think Anderson told me about __**how**__ I managed to get this amount. Something to ask about later, I guess._

"Trade secret," I replied playfully. Tali shook her head at that, yet was kind enough to let it go. "To be honest, though, I'm as amazed at this amount as you are. Don't worry, though. I'll **try** not to abuse this privilege."

Giggling, she said "If you do, you can send it to someone more responsible." Now it was my turn to shake my head. She doesn't hold back.

"You wound me, Tali," I said pretending to clutch my chest in pain. "Right here."

"You know what I mean," she replied, giving me a playful nudge. I swear, it's like just being near her is enough to calm me down. I think she might also be warming up to me, due in no small part to my bold (albeit stupid) rescue attempt. Man, I'm really glad I managed to save her on Eden Prime.

Then it hits me. I saved her. On **Eden Prime.** That wasn't supposed to happen in the game. Then again, the quarians weren't supposed to make first contact with humanity either, yet things couldn't be better for the two of them. _Geez, how much of the timeline got screwed up before I got here, anyway?_

"Gua-er, Michael, are you okay?" Tali asked worriedly. I snapped back to reality, deciding I could worry about that later.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just…trying to process all of this. I mean, I've gone through a hell of a lot in the past day, and I…I guess it just hasn't hit me yet. I'm able to do incredible things, yet I can't properly control them. Hell, I barely even know anything about my own past. I guess…" I hung my head at this point. "I guess I just need time to really process it all."

Tali placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry," she said reassuringly. "You'll get through this. And you won't be alone."

I smiled at this. "Thanks, Tali."

Before we continued onward, Kerry ran up to us, breathing quite heavily. "Haven't *huff* either of ya *huff* ever heard of *huff* leavin' *huff* yer damned *huff* Omni-tools on?! *huff*"

Looking at her in confusion, Tali and I looked at our Omni-tools and realized with embarrassment that we had turned them off before heading out. "Uh," I said nervously, "sorry about that."

Shaking her head, Kerry took some time to catch her breath. Afte regaining her composure, she continued speaking. "Nevva mind. Here," she said handing me some coordinates, "take a skycar to this location. My **boss** would like ta have a word wit ya."

My stomach leapt in shock as the gravity of her words set in. She had given me coordinates to a Cerberus safe house on the Citadel. And the Illusive Man wished to speak with me, for God knows what reason. Looking up at her, I asked "Are the others there, too?"

"Aye," she answered with a nod, "along wit Malak and Joseph. I'd suggest headin' there, pronto." Before I could speak, she said "Don' worry, I'll keep an eye on Tali while yer gone."

_Wow. She's good. One of these days, I'm going to have to ask if she can read minds._

Sighing in defeat, I whispered in her ear "You better keep her safe, Kerry. If I find out you hurt her, though, you and I will have a…problem."

She looked at me with a cold stare. "Don' think I'm some backstabber like Carlisle. When I promise to keep someone safe, the only way they can get hurt is if someone knocks me out cold or kills me." With a slight chuckle, she continued "Though hopefully, I get the former."

Shaking my head, I look back at Tali for a few seconds, then head to the skycar. After entering in the coordinates, I simply lean back and let myself get taken to the lion's den. _Well, __**this**__ is gonna be just __**perfect**__._

* * *

_20 minutes later…_

* * *

"Well, **this** is not what I was expecting."

As the skycar brought me to my destination, I was expecting a warehouse, ar some run down complex. Though apparently, the Illusive Man thought this Cell was important enough to have their base of operations be in a kick ass penthouse suite in a swanky hotel, if this data was right.

Again, **not** what I was expecting.

Entering through the lobby (the person at the front desk was apparently expecting me), I was led to an elevator that brought me to the top floor, directly into the penthouse. Immediately upon entry, I'm amazed by the sights. Vibrant colors painting the walls; luxurious carpets spread across the floor; leather furniture.

_I could get used to this._

"Good to see you've finally arrived, Guardian."

What I saw next completely caught me off guard. In a large room left to the entryway, a group of people were seated facing in my direction. There were five of them, two humans, two quarians, and a hologram of a human. _Wait…quarians?_

"I assumed I would only be speaking to the Illusive Man," I said as I crossed my arms. "Who are the rest of you?"

One of the quarians, a female, answered. "We are here with the Illusive Man," she said with a stuck up attitude, "because we run Cerberus with him."

Once again, **not** what I was expecting.

"Your shock is understandable, Guardian. If what we were told is true, you were expecting Cerberus to contain only humans. Though since you know that humanity is allied with the quarians, it would make sense to include them in our organization." I turned my attention to the man speaking to me. With his electric blue eyes, there was no doubt who I was looking at.

With a smirk, I said "Hello, TIM. Or would you prefer to be called Harper, instead?"

Taking a draw from his cigarette, he looked at me and said "It seems our friend was right." Smiling, he continued "You do have good sources, if you were able to discover my identity."

With a triumphant smile, I said "You have **no** idea, TIM. But you still haven't told me who you're friends are."

Placing his cigarette in an ashtray, TIM said "Well since you know **my** name, there's no point in hiding the identity of the others. Firstly, General Oleg Petrovsky," he said gesturing to the man by the table, "known outside of Cerberus as the Mysterious Strategist." The man lifted a glass of what I assume is wine, all while wearing a genuine smile. The Illusive Man continued "To his left is Admiral Rael'Zorah, a.k.a. the Unknown Scientist." The admiral simply nodded at me. "Admiral Daro'Xen, the Enigmatic Mind," she didn't even look my way, "and Beta, the Shrouded Benefactor. He's an A.I., and our main financer in the organization. Together," he exclaimed with his arms stretched out, "We are the Cerberus Council."

To say I was stunned would be a colossal understatement. I had been expecting to have a chat with only the Illusive Man, leader of a group of glorified space Nazis. Now I'm standing here in a penthouse suite meeting with the **five** leaders of Cerberus, and three of them weren't even human. I could understand allowing an A.I. into their ranks, but I was not expecting two quarians, **Xen** and **Rael** at that, to be leading the group as well.

"So," Oleg said cheerfully, "where should we start?"

* * *

_Kerry's POV, 33 minutes later:_

* * *

The world was starting to come back into focus again. Bringing myself up, I tried to focus, but my head was killing me. Bringing my hand to the back of my head, I felt a large bump. _Well, that's gonna sting in the morning._

"Hey, Tali. What exactly ha-"

Then it all came crashing back to me. Shortly after Guardian left to meet with the Cerberus Council, Tali and I were ambushed down in the Wards. About 13 people appeared both in front of us and behind us.

It should have been easy. For me, at least.

Convincing them to attack me unarmed, I managed to take out 9 of them before the tenth cheated and hit me in the back of the head with a pipe. I stayed conscious long enough to see one of the assailants throw a bag over Tali's head, then proceeded to black out.

Sighing in gloom, I said to myself "Guardian's gonna kill ma' ass."

* * *

**(Well, shit's about to go down! I know, this was a short chapter, but I think it left off in a perfect way, setting up for the assault on Chora's Den, which means the introduction of Wrex and Garrus, finally. **

**I know I promised action this chapter, but after having writer's block and having been in the process of recovering from my exam, I think I can be allowed to have some slack cut.**

**Also, yeah, TIM isn't the sole leader of Cerberus. This is to be expected when you ally with two different races. I'm looking forward to how this Cerberus Council works out.**

**Also, when the hero discovers that Tali has been kidnapped, you can expect a rampage to occur. The question, though, is whether or not he will kill anyone (especially Fist) during the future assault on Chora's Den.**

**Read and review, please!)**


	9. Journey's Start, Pt 3

**Here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect!**

* * *

**Journey's Start, Pt. 3: Assault on Chora's Den**

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

"Well, I have to hand it to Cerberus…they sure know how to fuse functionality with style."

As I said this, I couldn't help but admire how I looked in a mirror. Soon after arriving at the Cerberus safe house, the Cerberus Council had given me my new armor. By armor, I mean a battle-functional, skin tight jumpsuit. Thankfully, I had a rather fit bodily build, so I wasn't **too** embarrassed at how the damn thing clung to me.

The suit itself reminded me of Jacob's uniform in the games. However, the black from the suit was replaced with a bright gold, and was given some light blue linings. I noticed that the Cerberus logo wasn't there (for which I was thankful), but decided to pay it no mind. I was also given some high tech combat boots with a mag-boot system in them for low gravity areas., and a brand new version of the helmet I was wearing on Eden Prime. However, this helmet's main difference was that it automatically sealed up the mouthpiece for areas I would have a hard time breathing in. All in all, this thing looked totally awesome. All it needed was-

"Here," said Rael. "A good friend of ours said you would need this."

In his hands was a white leather jacket. Carefully putting it on, I looked at myself and smiled. _Okay, __**now**__ I look totally badass._

Heading out into the main room where Joseph, Malak, and the rest of the Rebirth Cell was, I held out my arms and asked "Well guys…how do I look?"

Joseph: "Nice."

Malak: "Fit for battle."

Rufus: "Wow."

Lucas: "Totally cool!"

Anton: "Like badass!"

Alice: "What papa said."

Donald: "Not bad."

Toshiro: "Impressive."

Alala: "Like an idiotic space biker."

Glaring at her for a few seconds, I decided to let it go at that and move on. Turning toward Xen as she walked toward us, she said "Come on. We still have to give you some new weapons."

Heading into another room with her, I could swear that my lower jaw crashed through the floor. Inside the room was an arsenal large enough for a platoon. Assault rifles, shotguns, rifles, heavy pistols, grenades, sub-machine guns, heavy weapons; practically every type of firearm was in this room. "Is that a **Gatling gun**?!" exclaimed Lucas.

"Yes it is, my boy," answered a grinning Rufus. "Yes it is."

"From what Deadpool and Azrael told us," continued Xen, "you seemed to have some skills with a blade. However, giving you a sword with a handle is too dangerous. Anyone could use it. Therefore," she said as she took out a pair of gauntlets, "I decided to give you something more…attached."

After she placed the gauntlets on my hands, she motioned me to clench my fists and rotate my left hand clockwise, and my right counter-clockwise. As soon as I did, two bright blue Omni-tools popped up on each hand. A second later, an energy blade of the same color sprung out to about 2 feet in length on my right hand, and a blue energy shield appeared on my left.

"These are my prototype Omni-weapons. They have the same functions as the sword and shield you had on Eden Prime, except these are more compact. This also prevents an enemy from stealing them from you and using them against you," Xen explained. "Also, the moment you activated them, the tools scanned your DNA and locked in on it, so only you can use them. This same function will, of course, be in the rest of your weapons."

Looking at her in awe, I said "You are a genius, Xen."

"I know," she said waving her hand dismissively. "You should also know that I managed to repair all the damages to your grenade launcher, _Morning Glory_, and Rael helped to mass produce modded ammunition clips for your handgun. Further use of these bullets should help to create more superior firepower for the Alliance, so be sure to keep your gun at all times."

As she said this, a few assistants brought in four boxes, with the lids being taken off as she spoke. The first box held the _Morning Glory_, fixed and ready to kick ass. The next two boxes contained heavy weapon ammo, enough to not worry about for a while. The last box held clips of handgun bullets for my Desert Eagle .50, again, enough to not worry about for a while. However, I still had the clip from Eden Prime, its final bullet especially reserved for Saren.

Then a thought enters my mind. Turning to face Xen, I ask her "Why?"

"Well," she begins, "by collecting the data on the effectiveness of-"

"No," I interrupted, "I mean why this? Why go through all of this-the Rebirth Cell, the high tech armor and jumpsuit, this freaking armory," I emphasized by spreading my arms out, "even these experimental weapons-why go through all of this just for me?"

Silence fills the room for a few seconds. "I suppose that's the question that really matters at the moment, isn't it?" We turned around to face the Illusive Man, standing at the door cigarette in hand. Taking a puff, he continued "Because of what you mean to the Reapers, for starters."

_Wait, what?_

"Your shock is understandable," he continued. "To be honest, I was just as shocked as you when I was informed of your existence, and what you were capable of. It took me a while to fully come to terms with it, but when I did, I took this matter to the rest of the Cerberus Council. And after going over everything we had found out that came with the two of you, we couldn't deny the facts: the Reapers are returning. And you are one the few, maybe the only one, who can stop them."

As I was coming back from the shock, I noticed something he said. "Wait, **two** of us?"

"_He is referring to the person who brought you to Cerberus,"_ answered Beta as he appeared in the room. Jeez, he needs to give a guy some warning next time. _"We have no idea who he really is or where he came from. All we know is what he looks like. Unfortunately, he had a device that prevented us from capturing a photograph, so we can't even show you what he looks like."_

Groaning, I asked "Well can anyone at least **tell** me what he looked like?"

"Yeah," answered Anton. "He be looking like one of old timey scientists, with long white lab coat and old-fashioned goggles. Talk about the retro, eh?"

_An old-fashioned scientist?_ "Well, I don't know anyone like that."

"We didn't expect you to, Guardian. He warned us that you might receive amnesia as a side effect from your injuries." Taking another puff of his cancer stick, the Illusive Man continued. "But this man claims to be on our side, and has given us enough information to back his claim up. In return, he made us promise to make sure you were prepared for the return of the Reapers. And that is exactly what we intend to do."

_Beep beep beep._

Entering the lounge, a screen came to life on the wall revealing the image of…a bruised up Kerry?

"Operative Lawson? What happened to you?" Xen inquired.

"_Uh…promise ya won' get mad?"_

"That all depends on the situation," Petrovsky stated. "Otherwise, we will make no such promise. Now what happened?"

Sighing, she answered _"Its Tali, sir. Some scunners jumped us and…they bolted wit her, sir."_

Jumping up, Rael screamed **"WHAT?! YOU LET MY DAUGHTER GET KIDNAPPED BY A GANG OF THUGS?! KEELAH, I SWEAR, IF SHE GETS KILLED I-"**

"Calm down, Rael," Xen said. "Throwing a tantrum won't help anyone."

"**MY DAUGHTER HAS BEEN STOLEN, TAKEN TO WHO KNOWS WHERE, AND YOU'RE ASKING ME TO CALM DOWN?!"**

Before he could continue, I asked calmly "Where was she last?"

"_Wit me, down in the Wards by the marketplace. They knocked me out about 30 minutes ago."_

_Well, they couldn't have gotten far. _"Alright, I'm heading there now. Hang tight." Terminating the link, I said "Joseph, Malak. I know you don't owe me any favors, but will you please help me find her?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Joseph said as he smiled, a bunch of grenades in his arms.

"We stand by you, in victory or death," Malak said as he put his mask on.

"If we find any information that will help your search, I'll send it your way," the Illusive Man said. "Though I doubt the three of you will be able to find her in time."

Nodding in response, I activate my Omni-tool's communication systems. "Natasha, Steve? We have a problem."

* * *

_The Wards, 24 minutes later…_

* * *

"So, where do we start?" Kaidan asked.

"I say we start with Barla Von," I said. "He deals with both financial concerns and information dealing, and is said to work for the Shadow Broker."

"The who?" asked Steve.

"The Shadow Broker is the best information dealer in the galaxy, brother dearest. He sells secrets to both sides, always managing to keep everyone from getting a permanent advantage over another. A necessary evil for the galaxy, and Barla Von works for him."

At the end of Natasha's explanation, we reached Barla Von's place of business in the Financial District of the Presidium. Entering the room, the volus gave us a look before saying "Welcome. It is an honor having the Hero of Elysium in my presence. As well as you, Natasha Shepard. The tale of your survival on Akuze always amazes me." Taking a volus breath, he looks at me with surprise evident in his body language. "Well now. I suppose the rumors of your demise were false after all, Michael."

Now it was my turn to be surprised. "You know who I am?"

"Of course. You saved my life almost…has it already been 15 months? More than once, I might add. I owe you quite a few favors, so anything you need to know, is on the house."

After looking at the others in surprise, I returned my attention to the volus. "A friend of mine was kidnapped nearly an hour ago. A quarian named Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Miss Zorah? She escaped from Saren? Well, he might have found her again and sent Fist to capture her."

"Why would he bother?" asked a curious Ashley.

"Because he betrayed the Shadow Broker. The Broker told Fist to bring miss Zorah to a safe place, until she could get something to the Council. Instead, he handed her over to Saren. Needless to say, the Broker was **not** happy. If miss Zorah is back on the Citadel, Fist is involved with her disappearance."

Leaning forward, I darkly asked "Where can we find Fist?"

"He's down in the Wards. He runs a bar called Chora's Den, and word has it that it's heavily guarded. I wouldn't recommend going there without help."

"Any suggestions?" inquired Steve.

"Find Garrus Vakarian. He's C-Sec, and he knows the layout of Chora's like the back of his hand. Last I heard he and his partner were headed to Dr. Michel's clinic in the Wards. Also, find Urdnot Wrex, a krogan mercenary hired by the Shadow Broker to deal with Fist. Trust me, you'll want him by your side if you're going to attack Fist. He's in C-Sec headquarters with **his** partner."

"Thank you, Barla," I said gratefully.

"Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "What are friends for?"

Heading out, we decided to go to the clinic first. Unfortunately, there weren't any available sky cars around, so we had to go on foot. About ten minutes (and a cramped elevator ride down) later, we arrived at the Wards.

My first impression at the sight of the arms of the Citadel, stretched out into the cloudy nebula: Wow. It was like looking out into a majestic city, with the nebula adding a feeling of awe. One look at the others, and I knew I wasn't the only one impressed.

Saying our thoughts on the sight, we followed Barla Von's directions and found ourselves in front of the clinic. As we were about to enter, a thought hit me. _What was Garrus doing as Shepard was entering the clinic, again?_

Then we saw two figures, one turian and one female human, crouched in cover as a group of human thugs were threatening the good doctor. _Oh. Right._

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" exclaimed a frightened Dr. Michel.

"That was smart, doc," said the lead thug. "Now if Garrus or Goemon show up, you better keep quiet, or-**WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!**" he exclaimed as he noticed us. In one quick motion, he snaked his arm around Dr. Michel's neck and pointer his gun at us. A second later, Garrus leapt out of cover and placed a round in the bastard's head.

As his body dropped to the floor, I activated my Omni-shield and launched forward. Vaulting over the short wall, I planted my foot in the closest thug's face before spinning around and crashing my Omni-shield to his **friends'** face, knocking him flat on his back. It was at that moment that the last guy raised his gun at **my** face. And it was a Carnifex. _Well, crap._

Before he could pull the trigger, a knife-scratch that, a **kunai** knife-buried itself in his head, right between the eyes. Turning to see where it came from, I saw the human with Garrus with her arm stretched outward in my general direction. With a grin on her puss, she calmly said "Bulls eye."

At that point, Garrus put away his gun and went over to Natasha and Steve. "Nice timing, Shepard… and, Shepard. You gave me the perfect chance to-"

"**Are you out of your damn mind?!" **Steve interrupted, causing Garrus to jump in surprise. **"You could have killed the hostage!"**

"And if you did," Natasha continued, "you and I would have a **problem**." The last word was punctuated by her activating her heavy pistol. _Man, I'd hate to be him if that happened._

"There wasn't any time to think! I just-Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Garrus," she said as she collected herself. "Just a bit shook up. Thank you, all of you, for saving me."

"Happy to be of service, doc. Though it was Garrus, Goemon, and Michael here who did all the work," Joseph said as he but away his broadsword, disappointment evident in his body language. "The rest of us were just a distraction."

At that, Garrus looked at me, his facial expression one of shock (or what I assumed to be shock). "Michael? Is that really you?"

_Huh. Guess I'm already acquainted with him._ Smiling, I said "That's my name, don't wear it out. Just curious, though, how did we know each other?"

It was now miss Goemon's turn to be shocked. "You're kidding, right? After all we've been through?" I simply shrugged.

"He has amnesia," Ashley explained. "He can't remember anything that happened before the attack on Eden Prime."

"You were on Eden Prime?" asked a surprised Garrus.

"It's a long story, involving secret laboratories, running against the clock, fighting geth with limited ammo and no shielding, and fighting my way off a geth ship," I said tiredly. "I'll tell you about it later."

A few seconds later, both Garrus and Goemon were laughing their asses off, while Dr. Michel simply stood where she was in shock. Catching his breath, Garrus said "Damn, Michael. A year later and your **still** finding a way to get involved in a big fight. It's like you're a magnet for trouble."

Tilting his head in confusion, Malak asked "This sort of thing happened to him before?"

"Long story," miss Goemon said, "if there's time, we'll tell you all about it. Now, what are you all doing here exactly."

After explaining the situation to them, they both had looks of disgust on their faces. "Fist," Garrus said with venom. "I knew he was a criminal, but working for Saren? I think we just found the perfect excuse to take him in, Rika."

Rika Goemon nodded, then said "Okay, we'll help you find your friend. But afterwards, we want to join you to take down Saren."

Natasha raised her eyebrow at this. "Sure, but why?"

"Because the bastard might get away scott free!" exclaimed an angry Garrus. "As a SPECTRE, we weren't able to find **any** evidence to arrest him for Eden Prime. The idea that he can just get away with that? Not gonna happen. Please, let us help you."

Natasha and Steve huddled together to talk it over. About a minute later, Steve held out his hand to Garrus, with Natasha doing the same for Rika. "Welcome to the team, Vakarian. Goemon."

Shaking their hands, Rika asked "So now we storm the Den?"

"No," I answered, "now we go to C-Sec and recruit Urdnot Wrex and his partner to help us."

"Way ahead of ya, kiddo."

Turning around, we were greeted by Kerry and two others. One of them being the most badass of all krogan who ever existed: Urdnot mother-effin' Wrex. With his blood-red armor, the scars across his face and red plate, and a look in his eyes that said _I can shoot you dead just for breathing_, he practically **oozed** badassery.

The other person surprised me a bit. He was a human dressed in all black: black armor, black cloak, even a black hat. Not just any hat, mind you; a **cowboy** hat. Like his krogan companion, he gave off an intimidating aura. He looked to be in his early 40's, with a brown beard covering most of his tanned face. His eyes were the most intimidating part of him, though. The pale blue irises seemed to emit the same feeling of dread as his krogan companion. I made a mental note to **not** get in his way, lest I get caught in the crossfire.

Wrex then let out a throaty chuckle that could make a petty crook shit their pants in fear. "Well, isn't this a surprise. The Angels of Ruin, going after another one of my contracts. Some things never change."

Malak sauntered over to him and shook his hand like he was an old friend. "It is good to see you again, my friend. I assume you and Django got the details from Kerry?"

_Wait. The other guy's name is __**Django**__? Well, all that's missing from him is-_

"Yeah, she told us," Django said as he dragged something behind him. That something being a ovular container, about the size of a…human…being…_Well, there's the coffin. All that's left is the arsenal of weapons inside._ "Though I'd like to give you all fair warning, as one group of warriors to another…Wrex and I are going to **kill** Fist."

Taking her gaze away from his coffin, Natasha said "Duly noted. Alright everyone, let's move! We've got a club to storm!"

* * *

As we entered the dimly lit alley way leading to the club, Garrus stopped us to go over the layout. He took out a holograph of the Den and started laying out the battle plan. "Alright, Chora's Den is about seven floors high, with enough room on each floor to hold about a small platoon. Fist's office is on the seventh floor, and the only way to get there," he said pointing to a few areas on each floor, "are the staircases. Each staircase leads to the next floor, and each staircase is on the opposite side from the last. That means we're most likely going to have to fight our way up to get to Fist.

"Now, Fist is most likely expecting us, so he's going to have the Den locked down and prepped like a fortress. He'll have as many of his goons guarding him as possible, so expect heavy resistance. His force includes the Blue Suns, a few LOKI mechs, and two krogan bodyguards. So here's how we do this: we go in as one group, and we shoot everything that move that is outside our group. Any questions?"

Silence filled the alley before Joseph spoke up. "Yeah, are you sure that's all we'll be facing? No Blood Pack? YMIR mechs? A geth Prime, perhaps?"

Sighing, I took out _Morning Glory_ and started loading it up. "Also, should we knock once?" I held it up locked and loaded. "Or twice?"

Wrex grinned and said "The more, the better." In response, he set his shotgun to fire a Carnage round. I guess he want's in on the opening action, too.

We all then charged toward the Den, guns primed and ready to kick ass. As soon as we reached the entrance, everyone made room for me to work my magic. The door opened, and before the mechs guarding the door could respond, I screamed out **"BOOYAHKASHAAA, MOTHERFUCKERS!"** Two seconds later, all three of the mechs were scrap metal.

All hell broke lose after that. The rest of the team charged in and started shooting up the place, with the Blue Suns returning fire from both sides of the room. Wrex held up his shotgun and blew four of the mercs away with the Carnage blast. Grinning, he went on to kill the rest of the mercs with his shotgun. Joseph followed right behind him, swinging his broadsword at a few LOKI mechs that came out of the wall. As he brought his blade down at the last one's head, a thump emanated from behind him. He turned and saw Malak standing there, a Blue Suns merc laying headless at his feet.

Kerry, Kaidan, and Natasha were leading the pack on their side of the room, taking down LOKI mechs with Overloads and Warps (coincidentally, Kerry was a Sentinel like Natasha). Following close behind, Steve, Ashley, and Rika were mowing down the mechs coming from behind (it was here I discovered that Rika was an Infiltrator). A few shots later, and the first floor was cleared out of enemies.

Making our way to the stair case, I stopped everyone and said "Maybe I should go first. After all, I do have a shield that can take a round from a dreadnought on my arm, so I can provide protection for everyone else."

Taking a few seconds to decide, Steve said "Alright, but Wrex and I are going right behind you. We can help provide covering fire for the others." Nodding, I activated my Omni-shield and made my way up the stairs, Wrex following right behind. As we reached the top of the stairs, I held up my hand to signal a full stop.

Walking ahead slowly, I held up my shield and peeked out the entryway just enough to get a view of the right side. Coincidentally, that exposed myself just enough for one of the Blue Suns to take a shot at me. A shot that was blocked by my shield, sending me staggering backwards into Wrex. "Okay, you can take it from here."

Steve rushed ahead and threw a bunch of grenades into the room. A few seconds later, and explosions sent Blue Suns flying backwards. Wrex took that time to charge into the room and opened fire on anything moving. The rest of us quickly followed suit and cleared out the second floor in no time flat. "Huh," Joseph said. "Guess they weren't expecting anyone to make it past the first floor."

Rika then fired a round into a security camera. "Well, they'll be expecting us now. So I suggest we get moving before-"

"_They're on the second floor! Everyone, retreat to floor six! Make sure no one gets up to the top, NO ONE!"_

Groaning, Rika said "-Fist catches on."

"Well, at least it'll be a breeze heading up to the 6th floor," Joseph said jokingly. Unfortunately for him, that had earned him a venomous glare from Natasha and Ashley as they held up their guns. "Shutting up," he said meekly.

He was right, at least. With all the other mercs up on the 6th floor, all we had to deal with were a few LOKI mechs on floors 3 through 5 (which were easily mowed down by our superior firepower). However, as we were about to head up to the 6th floor, we stopped to consider the situation. "Okay, seeing as the rest of the mercs are up there, we can't just go in there guns blazing. We need a plan."

Garrus was right. We needed a plan, and fast. Before anyone could speak, Rika appeared out of thin air. "They put up a makeshift barricade at the top of the stairs," she said. "I guess they're trying to funnel us in and take us out one at a time."

"Oh really?" Turning to face a smiling Django, he continued "Well leave it to me." Holstering his Carnifex, he turned around and bent down to open his coffin. As he opened it, our jaws practically crashed through all five floors of the Den.

Resting inside the coffin, Django had a small arsenal of weapons: about 25 grenades, two Reverent machine guns, and N7 weapons; to be precise, an N7 Eagle heavy pistol, an N7 Valiant sniper rifle, an N7 Piranha shotgun, and an N7 Typhoon assault rifle with a large box attached to its left side. Taking out the Typhoon, he turned to me and said "I'm gonna need your help, kid."

As the two of us headed up the stairs, leaving everyone else down below to look in awe at Django's deadly arsenal, I readied my Omni-shield and started walking ahead of Django as he took something out of his coat. Reaching the top of the stairs, we saw the barricade Rika warned us about. I shrugged, and charged forward with my shield raised high. The gunfire instantly hit the shield, beginning to push me back. Django came up behind me, placed his Typhoon on a tripod and muttered "Here's to you, Nero. **MOVE, NOW!**"

Jumping behind him, I watched in awe as he opened fire on the closest merc. As soon as he went down, Django began spraying the gunfire all across the room mowing down everyone he aimed at. Chairs, tables, even the bar splintered to pieces as he unleashed a flurry of rounds throughout the room. At that point, I realized that the only safe place to be was behind Django, a revelation that I was both thankful for and terrified of. He wasn't even letting up at all. Hell, the damn gun probably fired a thousand rounds already and it had yet to overheat. _Probably has something to do with the box on the gun._

The rest of the team made their way up after about three minutes of continuous gunfire, figuring that it was time to help out. As they reached the top, they saw Django still firing into the room, amazed that the gun had yet to break down. A minute later, he finally stopped firing. Smoke filled the room as we slowly entered, taking in the carnage of the battle. Bleeding bodies were strung across the room, covered by the debris from the furniture they tried to hide behind to no avail.

"Fucking A, dude," exclaimed an awestruck Joseph. "You are a dangerous man."

Grinning, he said "Yeah, well, N7s tend to **be** dangerous after our training. Wouldn't you agree, Shepards 1 and 2?"

The sibling's faces were molded into shock at this. "Wait a minute," Steve said quietly. "You…you couldn't be…"

"Damian "Django" King-Sullivan?!" Natasha finished.

"That's my name, rookie," he joked. "You seem shocked to see me."

"W-with all due respect, sir," Ashley nervously said, "we weren't expecting **you** of all people to be working with a mercenary. Or **as** a mercenary, at that."

Figuring I could get some answers from them, I asked "Who is he, anyway?"

Every human in the room stared at me with disbelief. Kerry spoke up first. "Damian King-Sullivan, codenamed 'Django,' is a legend among humanity. He's one of the twin brothers who helped humanity make first contact wit an alien race. Hell, he's the first human ta make contact wit the quarian race. Add in the fact tha' he helped ta liberate Shanxi afta General Williams died defendin the colony, his successful attempt at allyin' wit A.I.s, an his N7 career, that makes him the most decorated Alliance soldier in hist'ry. Yer all standin in the presence of a freakin' **hero**, fer Christ sake!"

Now everyone, even Wrex, were looking in shock at the legend of a man that was Django. Shaking off the stares, he said "Come on, we've still got a quarian to save and a crime boss to kill."

Shaking ourselves from the stupor we headed to the staircase that would take us to the 7th floor. Halfway up, we heard heavy footsteps coming our way, a few seconds later, a krogan charged us and knocked us back down the stairs. Coming to a bit later, I looked up in time to see the two krogan bodyguards having a row with Kaidan, Malak, and Garrus. Realizing that they didn't even notice me, I activated my Omni-sword and took out my Desert Eagle .50, then charged toward to nearest krogan. I leapt onto his back, and dug by blade in as he started thrashing about in an attempt to shake me off. I withdrew the blade, then dug it into a spot between the krogan's skin and his plate. That got him to stop instantly.

Taking this opportunity, I aimed my .50 and kneecapped the other krogan. The others took this opportunity to aim their guns at him to keep him down. I turned my attention to the krogan I had my blade in, and asked "Is the quarian still alive?"

Trembling in terror, he replied "Yeah. She's with Fist in his office."

I twisted my blade, causing the krogan to wince as his plate creaked. "Are there any other guards around?"

"No. Fist is all out of mechs, too. Please, don't do it. Don't take off my plate. Please."

"Please. He's my little brother. Have mercy on him."

By that point, they were both starting to cry. Taking pity on him, I withdrew my blade from the krogan's plate, and he fell to the floor shaking.

"Leave," I said. "Find a new line of work. A legal line of work. Maybe in shipping. And if I **ever** find you even **associating** with another gang…"

Getting up, he said "You won't. Thank you. We won't forget this." The two of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them, and they were gone.

"How did you know where to stick a blade in a krogan's plate area?" asked a nervous and awestruck Wrex.

Smiling a shit-eating grin, I said "Don't worry, Wrex. I won't abuse the knowledge. At least on you, anyway."

Shaking his head, he went on to say "May the heavens have pity and mercy on whichever krogan manages to piss you off."

We gathered ourselves and made our way back up the stairs. As we reached the top, we saw the door that led into Fist's office. "So," I said, "who want's to knock?"

Wrex, Steve, Django, and Ashley then proceeded to unleash a pack of Carnage shots, blasting the door to smithereens. Natasha, Rika, Garrus, Joseph, Django, and I charged through the wreckage and came face to face with a surprised Fist. Reacting quickly, he lunged forward and grabbed a cuffed Tali, using her as a living shield. "Stay back!" he yelled, holding a gun to her head. "One more step and her brains paint my walls!"

With venom in my voice, I growled "Fist, you so much as scratch her **mask**, we will end you."

His eyes darted across the room as the rest of the team entered. I could see it in his eyes: he knew he was outnumbered. "Look, here's how this is gonna go down: I walk out of here, grab a sky car, and you can have the quarian as she is. Try making any funny moves, the first thing she loses is a finger."

"You're not getting away with this, you bosh'tet!" Tali said defiantly.

"Can it, suit rat!" He punctuated his statement by hitting her head with the butt of his gun. Grinding my teeth in frustration, I stop myself from lunging to strangle the bastard. _Damn it, isn't there anything I can do?_

I felt a sudden surge of power course through my body. I recognized this sensation: it was my golden biotics welling up inside me. _"You have one shot,"_ a warm voice said in my head. It was different from Hikari's voice. For one thing, it was male. Plus, it had more emotion behind the words. It didn't matter, though. I knew what to do.

"You really think you can get out of this alive, Fist?" I asked. That caught his attention.

With Fist turning his gaze at me, I continued, "Wrex is a ruthless mercenary who would probably kill his brother without a second thought. Garrus was willing to take a shot at a criminal that was using a human shield. Natasha Shepard, Django, they would open fire in an instant." His focus stayed on me, not noticing I was using my biotics to lift a small glass behind him. _God, how did Shepard manage to get through this in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC?_ "Considering the fact that this room is filled with trained killers, your escape plan better not simply involve us being unwilling to shoot a hostage, Fist."

Panic was in his eyes as he turned his gun at me. "You're-you're bluffing! You'd nev-UNH!" His sentence was cut short as I flung the glass straight at the back of his head. This gave Tali enough of an opening to kick the bastard and jump out of the way. As I ran over to shield her, Fist raised his gun to shoot, missed, and fell to the ground as everyone else gunned him down. Despite the fact that I was glad he was dead, I was still a bit queasy about the fact that I just saw a living being get shot to death.

Turning away from his corpse, I refocused on Tali as I took off her cuffs. "Are you okay? Did he puncture your suit, do anything to-"

"I'm fine," she said reassuringly as she rubbed the back of her head. "The only thing he did to hurt me was pistol whip the back of my head." Looking straight at me, she quietly said "You saved my life twice now. I…I can't thank you enough for this. No one else would even bother to…thank you." She then wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, softly beginning to cry.

Returning her hug, I said "Hey, its okay. You're safe now. You're safe." We seemed to stay like that for hours, sitting on the floor as she cried into my shoulder. She must have been so scared. Hell, for all I knew, she might have been killed by Fist anyway. If that happened…well, I'm just glad it didn't come to that.

After a few minutes, Tali managed to collect herself and got off of the floor with me. Thankfully, the others decided to give us some space. Walking out of the office, Natasha said "Come on. We've got a rogue SPECTRE to take down."

* * *

_The Council Chambers, 1 hour later…_

* * *

"Please, just give us some more time," Udina said pleadingly as we walked toward the Council. "They'll be here any minute."

"_We've waited long enough,"_ Saren said through his projection. _"If the Council would please get this over with, I'd like to put these accusations behind me."_

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Anderson said.

Looking right at him, Saren said _"Why is it that every time humanity makes false charges against me, __**you**__ are involved, Captain Anderson?"_

"Everyone, calm down," said Tevos, desperately trying to defuse the tension. "Ambassadors, if you can't produce the necessary evidence, I'm afraid we'll have to bring this hearing to a close."

Udina and Raan hung their heads in defeat, knowing they had run out of time. That's when we entered the proceedings. "You want proof, Councilors?" I asked as everyone focused on us. God the look on Udina's face. I wish I had a camera. Same goes for Saren, the smug bastard. "We've got your proof. Straight from a geth on Eden Prime. Tali, if you would?"

Fiddling with her Omni-tool, Tali played the recording.

"_The beacon is on Eden Prime. We will get it, and be one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

"_And one step more to the return of the Reapers."_

The silence in the room was so rich, you could practically taste it. Looking at Saren's holographic form, I smiled and said "Try talking your way out of **this**, Saren."

The rest of the Council looked at him in shock. "Saren? Explain yourself." Sparatus didn't receive an answer. Saren was caught with the smoking gun, and he knew it.

"Well?" asked a smug Natasha. "We're waiting."

Turning toward us, he shook in silent fury. A fury he immediately let out. _"You…you think this a victory? You think you've won? That you've accomplished something? YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING, YOU FILTHY HUMANS! YOU THINK THIS IS OVER? THAT IT ENDS HERE? I SWEAR TO THE SPIRITS, THIS WILL ONLY END WHEN YOUR SPECIES, AND ALL YOUR ALLIES, ARE WIPED OFF THE FACE OF THE GALAXY! WHEN YOUR WORLDS BURN, WHEN YOUR FAMILIES LAY IN SMOLDERING HEAPS OF BURNT COPSES, WHEN THE SKYS OF YOUR CITIES ARE COVERED IN SMOKE FROM THE FIRES OF DESTRUCTION, THAT IS WHEN IT WILL BE OVER! THAT IS WHEN IT WILL END! AND AS THE LAST HUMAN DIES, KNOW THAT YOUR RACE WAS ENDED BY MY HANDS, YOU FILTHY PIECES OF PRIMITIVE TRASH!"_

As he breathed heavily from the end of his rant, the room was again silent. This time, from the shocking revelation that on of the greatest SPECTREs to ever live, a person the Council put their trust in, was a raving, genocidal lunatic. A raving, genocidal lunatic that just ousted himself to the galactic community. Coughing a bit to break the tension, I asked "You done yet?"

Regaining as much of himself as he could, he growled _"I am far from done, human."_ He then cut the feed, leaving the room again bathed in silence.

"I **love** hanging out with you guys!" exclaimed Joseph. "You always know how to show someone a good time."

Deciding to ignore him, we turned our attention to the Council. "So, what now?" I asked.

Sparatus shook his head in shame. "Your evidence, coupled with Saren's admittance of guilt, proves without a doubt that he is a threat to everyone. His SPECTRE status shall be revoked, and all efforts will be done to bring him to justice."

"I recognize the other voice in the recording," added Tevos. "That was Matriarch Benezia."

"Who's she?" asked Steve.

"Matriarchs are powerful asari who have entered the final stage of their lives, and are revered for their wisdom and experience. They serve as guides and mentors to my people. Benezia is a powerful biotic and had many followers; she will make a formidable ally for Saren and his geth."

"I'm more interested about this Conduit, and the part about Reapers," interjected Valern. "What exactly are they?"

"We don't know what the Conduit is," answered Natasha, "but Michael can tell you about the Reapers. He seems to know the most about them, according to Captain Anderson."

Walking up to the Council, I said "The Reapers are an advanced race of machines that were responsible for the Protheans' sudden disappearance. Every 50,000 years, they come to our galaxy to wipe out every form of organic life, erase all knowledge of their existence, and then retreat back into dark space so they aren't found by accident before the next cycle begins. The geth sees them as the pinnacle of synthetic life, and are following Saren because he believes he can bring about the Reaper's return."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Sparatus said "Would you listen to yourself? You're saying that Saren wants to bring back the machines that destroyed the Protheans? Impossible, it has to be."

"Well, Saren **did** just say he wants to wipe out all humans **and** those who stand with them as allies," Garrus said. "Maybe he's crazy enough to believe that if he sees the Reapers as the tool that will accomplish his goals."

"If so, then we can't waste any time!" stated Udina. "You need to send your fleets out into the Traverse and bring him in!"

"Doing so could start a war with the Terminus systems, Ambassador Udina," Valern said. "We're not going to risk sending our fleets out to catch him."

"Well," I said, "there is one way to catch him that **won't** start a war with the Terminus Systems. If you want to catch a SPECTRE, then send a SPECTRE."

Tevos' eyes lit up. "He's right. And I think we all know just who to send."

Sparatus stood defiantly. "No! It's too soon! Humanity isn't ready for the responsibilities of joining the SPECTREs."

"You send a SPECTRE out to bring Saren down, and the Alliance gets on of their own into the SPECTREs. Everyone wins," Natasha said bluntly.

The Councilors looked at each other before nodding in agreement (though Sparatus did so reluctantly). Entering something into their consoles, Tevos then spoke up. "Commanders Steven and Natasha Shepard. Michael Anderson. Step forward."

My mind went blank at that. _Did she just call up __**both**__ of their names? Did she just call out __**my**__ name?_ Steve pats me on the back, bringing me out of my stupor. Joining the others in the limelight we were suddenly thrust into, I couldn't help but feel nervous as everyone watched us. As everyone watched **me**.

"It is the decision of the Council that the three of you receive all powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," said Tevos.

"SPECTREs are not trained, but chosen," said Valern. "Individuals forged in the fires of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank of fire."

"SPECTREs are an ideal, a symbol, the embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance," continued Tevos. "They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

"SPECTREs carry a great burden," continued Sparatus. "They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is their's to uphold."

Tevos went on to say "You three are the first human SPECTREs. This is a great accomplishment for each of you, **and** your entire species."

At that point, the full gravity of the situation set in. I had just been made a SPECTRE alongside Commanders Shepard and Shepard, the first of our species. We were now protectors of the galaxy. Humbled, I bowed and said "It's an honor, Councilor."

Following suit, Steve bowed and said "Thank you, Councilor."

Natasha simply smiled and said "It's about damn time. So what happens now?"

"We're sending the three of you into the Traverse after Saren," said Valern. "He's a fugitive from justice, so you are all authorized to use any means necessary to either bring him in or eliminate him."

Nodding, I said "We'll find him, Councilors." _And when we do, I'm going to see to it that he pays for everything he's done. Count on it._

* * *

**Author's Note: Well, that was something! With three SPECTREs on the case, you know Saren's gonna get his!**

**Also, I know that this was a long chapter. But with the whole assault on Fist's club, you've got to admit that it was worth it.**

**One more thing: I do not own the character Django, or anything related to him. My OC is simply a person giving homage to his favorite movie character in the best way he can. You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.**

**Anyway, read and review, and stay tuned for the next chapter. No flames, because flamers will be shot. Survivors will be shot in the head.**


	10. Journey's Start, Pt 4

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING related to Mass Effect. That right goes to Bioware.**

* * *

**Journey's Start, Pt. 4: The Adventure Begins**

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

It's amazing what can happen in a single day.

To recap, I woke up today fighting for my life to escape from a facility of mechs wanting to kill me. Not only that, I had discovered that I was transported from my universe into a universe that I believed only existed in video games. From then on, I was shot at by geth, went a round with a rogue SPECTRE, led an unplanned rescue mission on a geth ship, and practically flew from said ship to the _Normandy_. And that was all in the course of a few hours.

15 hours later, I learned that I had been in this universe for a year already (amnesia is a bitch), and was adopted as Captain David Anderson's son. When I got to the Citadel, I got new gear from my employers (a friendlier-looking Cerberus), helped recruit a few more people to the team, assaulted a club run by a criminal, exposed the rogue SPECTRE as a madman, and was made one of the first human SPECTRES. Now, I was given the mission of helping the other two SPECTRES track down the ex-SPECTRE, to use whatever means necessary, with a multi-species crew on the most advanced ship from the Alliance.

Again, I say that it is amazing what can happen in a single day. Which is exactly what I had said to Garrus and his friend, Rika, as we headed toward C-Sec. Minus the part about me being from another universe, of course.

"Wow," muttered an astonished Rika.

"I know, right?" I responded. Turning to Garrus, I continued though you must've kept yourselves busy while I was gone. Got any good stories for me?"

Flashing a turian grin, Garrus said "Well, there was this one time last year. Rika and I busted a batarian spy ring. They were planning on selling secrets about the Council to the Hegemony. When we confronted them, they were holding our contact, Barla Von, at gunpoint." He shook his head in amazement, then said "We were only able to save him when a hotheaded human male barged through a doorway, started spraying the contents of a fire extinguisher at the batarians, and proceeded to slam the canister into the face of the one pointing a gun at Barla Von. The two of us then proceeded to use stun rounds and arrested every single spy."

Taking up where he finished, Rika went on to say "That brought us straight into our next adventure. After that incident, we treated the kid to some food, and eventually got caught up in a conspiracy against the Alliance. We helped the kid out, especially when we tracked down a research facility that was performing human experiments." She frowned at that point. I was willing to take a guess that she didn't like what she saw. "The things that went on in there…no one should have to go through that. So we helped you free the surviving prisoners, set the facility to self-destruct, and fought our way past some kind of monster before escaping the base. After that, Garrus and I went back to work, and we didn't hear from you again. Until today, that is."

I sat in amazement at the two of them. I didn't know if they were making it all up or not, but if they were telling the truth, then-hang on. "Did you just say…that I was the one who sprayed down a spy ring?" I asked incredulously. "And that you helped me take down a clandestine research facility? **Last year**?!"

"Yeah," Garrus answered with a chuckle. "That little adventure happened a few months before your disappearing act. Though not before someone got involved with a fight on the docks. Eyewitnesses claim that a human was nearly beaten to death by some kind of wild animal." Pausing to think, Garrus hummed and continued "The guy's body was never found after the creature was killed, though. Neither was the creature's. I'd hate to think that it's still on the Citadel, somewhere."

I shuddered at that thought. Then proceeded to think about something else. "Hey, guys? If you don't mind, I'm going to go get something from the requisitions office. Wanna come with?"

Nodding, they followed me down the stairs to meet the turian behind the desk. After verifying my SPECTRE status, he opened the rare stocks, allowing me to get some things that Garrus and Rika might need on this journey. Garrus got some higher grade Agent armor, a Mantis sniper rifle, a Vindicator assault rifle, and a Hades Nexus Omni-tool; Rika received some medium Onyx armor, a Phalanx heavy pistol, a Viper sniper rifle, and a Logic Arrest Omni-tool. After purchasing quite a few grenades and armor upgrades for the others, we headed to the elevator that took us up to the docks. Reaching the top, we were greeted by Natasha, Steve, Anderson, Udina, and Raan, waiting for us by the _Normandy_. I took this time to fully take in the sight and appreciate it. I was standing right next to one of **the** most advanced ships in the galaxy. Hell, the _Normandy_ would eventually become the most **famous** ships in the galaxy. Granted, not the same ship, but still. And I was going to be serving alongside its Commanding Officers.

Udina's coughing brought me back to reality. "Michael, Commanders Shepard, I have good news for the three of you. Anderson is stepping down as the Commanding Officer of the _Normandy_. The ship is yours now."

The look on Anderson's face showed that it wasn't that simple. "What's going on, Anderson?" asked Steve.

"I'll tell you what's going on," Natasha said while glaring at Udina. "Some political **douche bag **forced Anderson to retire so we could take his ship."

"Natasha, you and I both know that you three needed a ship," Anderson calmly said. "The _Normandy_ is a fast ship. She's quick and quiet, and the best ship in the Alliance."

"Besides," Raan continued, "the three of you are familiar with the crew, and at least two of you know the ship inside and out." Looking at me, she went on to say "Plus, it will be nice to know that Tali is in safe hands."

Nodding, I said "So, what do we do from here?"

"For starters, don't bother looking for Saren," Anderson answered. "That bastard's long gone by now. Instead, you should focus on finding any leads about the Conduit that you can."

"Raan and I have had reports about geth attacking one of our colonies in the Traverse. A planet called Feros," Udina said. "Also, there are rumors of geth on Noveria."

Raan took this opportunity to put in her own two cents. "There's one other lead we would like you to follow. We'd suggest looking for Dr. Liara T'Soni. She's Matriarch Benezia's daughter. Last we heard, she was somewhere in the Knossos system of the Artemis Tau cluster."

Shrugging, I said "Good a place to start as any. Hopefully she can be a big help to us."

"Just remember," Udina said glaring at the three of us, "the three of you were human long before you were SPECTREs. Anything and **everything** you do reflects upon the Alliance as a whole. So if you do anything embarrassing, Raan and I will be stuck with cleaning up **your** mess."

Raising his hands reassuringly, Steve said "Relax Udina, we'll make sure not to give you…**too much** of a headache."

The ambassador started rubbing his temples as he headed to the elevator. "That is **exactly** what I'm afraid of." Raan nodded to us, then went to join him at the elevator, leaving the three of us, plus Garrus and Rika (who decided to stay out of this), alone with Anderson on the docks.

"Well, all I can say now is good luck," Anderson said. "To all of you. And if you do find Saren out there, be sure to kick his ass for me." With that, he turned and went to join the others at the embassy.

Looking at the others, I rubbed my hands together and said "So, what do you say we hop on board and get this thing started?"

* * *

After a long time in the decontamination area (please note that it is boring as all H-E-Double Hockey Sticks), we boarded the _Normandy_ and split up to our own areas. Steve, Natasha and I went up to where Joker was stationed. "Hey, guys," he said. "I heard what happened to Captain Anderson. Survived a hundred battles, only to get taken down by backroom politics." Turning himself to face us, he continued "Just watch yourselves out there. Things go bad on this mission, and you're going to be the ones on the chopping block."

"This…this feels wrong," I said. "Anderson should be the one in charge here. This is his ship, after all."

"I know what you mean," Steve said sympathetically. "It feels like we're stealing the ship from him."

"Hey, I'll admit that it feels wrong. Anderson was practically screwed over by politicians. But if he would want anyone taking over for him, he'd be glad it's you three."

Smiling, Jane said "Yeah, and he'll be even more glad when he sees Saren where he belongs: behind bars."

"Yeah, everyone on this ship is behind you on that, 100%." Turning back toward the controls, Joker continued "Intercom's open. If any of you have anything to say to the crew, now's the time to say it."

After a few seconds of silence, Steve said "Attention, crew. This is Commander Steve Shepard, Commander Natasha Shepard, and Michael Anderson speaking. We have our orders. Find Saren before he finds the Conduit. We won't lie to you, crew. This mission won't be easy."

Natasha picked up at that point. "For too long, the Alliance has stood apart from the others. Now it's time to step up and show the rest of the galaxy what we're made of."

I stepped in at that point. "This all began when Saren attacked Eden Prime, a human settlement in the Traverse. But he won't stop there. He and his geth won't stay on the fringes of Citadel space. It's up to us to find him and bring him down."

"Our enemy knows we're coming," continued Steve. "When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be waiting for them, too."

Natasha took in a deep breath before saying her part. "The Alliance needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every species in Citadel space. Saren must be stopped. And I promise you…**we WILL stop him**!"

Even from here, we could hear the entire ship erupt into cheers of agreement. They knew the score. They understood what was at stake. And they would help see to it that Saren would get his. "Nice job, guys," Joker said with a smile. "Captain Anderson would be proud."

Nodding, I turned and said "Anderson gave up everything to give us this chance. We **cannot**, and **will not **fail!"

"Damn right, sir."

At that point, the three of us headed to the Galaxy Map to set our destination. After setting a course for the Artemis Tau cluster (I managed to convince them to look for Liara first), Steve decided to give me a tour of the ship. "So, as you can tell, this is the CIC. This is pretty much the main hub of the ship. Our XO, Pressley, works up here with Joker." Pointing to the bald-headed man nodding at us, Steve continued "The Comm Room is right behind the Galaxy Map. It's also where we'll be taking private communications with the Council, as well as where the ground team members will be meeting after every major mission." _Well, I guess it's pretty big, then. Here's hoping it has a table with chairs._

He then led me down to the next deck to continue the tour. "That elevator takes you down to Decks 3 and 4. From what I heard, Wrex, Garrus, Django, and Ashley took up stations in the Cargo Bay, while Tali has a position working in with Engineer Adams at the Drive Core, both on Deck 4. Deck 3 contains the Officers' Quarters and a state-of-the-art training room. It can even be set for holographic combat. You'll find Malak, Joseph, Natasha, and Rika down there. It's also where you and the others on the team will be sleeping."

Wow. This ship was **obviously** bigger than it was in the game if the ground team members were able to have a floor for their own quarters. I just hope we have enough room for when Liara joins up. "Here on Deck 2," continued Steve, "is the Mess Hall, where everyone will be eating. Kaidan can be seen next to the Mess, always working on something. This deck also has sleeper pods for the rest of the crew. However, seeing as there are only eight, each crew member has their own assigned time to use it. Also on this deck is the Med Bay, where Dr. Chakwas is. Speaking of which, maybe you should go get a check up from her. Just to be safe."

Nodding, I said that I would before deciding to look around the rest of the ship. I first went down to Deck 4, mainly to check in on Tali. Upon entering the Cargo Bay, the first thing that entered my mind was that it was extremely dim-lit. So much so that I was only able to barely make out the forms of Garrus, Wrex, Ashley, and Django. Heading over to where Ashley was, I tapped her shoulder and asked "How's everything going, Ash?"

Turning to face me, she smiled and answered "Not bad. I especially like being able to work with Django on weapons maintenance. The guys really knows his stuff."

"That comes from years of traveling alone and having to maintain your own weapons, rookie!" Django yelled playfully across the room. Apparently he was currently putting in requisition orders for the crew, mostly weapon and armor modifications.

Shaking her head, Ashley continued "Hard to believe that guy's **the** Django, the guy that liberated Shanxi." Her gaze dropped to the floor as a gloom settled in her eyes. "Just wish he got there sooner."

Placing a hand on her shoulder, I said "Come on, Ash, I'm sure he did all he could."

She smiled a bit. "Yeah, you're probably right. But that's not what's bothering me, though."

"And what exactly is bothering you then, Gunny?" asked Natasha. _Jesus, that woman needs to learn to make noises when she walks._

Ashley quickly saluted upon seeing her. "Oh, sorry ma'am, it's nothing you need to be concerned with."

"Gunny," Natasha said, "it's okay. You can tell us anything."

Glancing at Wrex, she whispered "You sure about that?"

"Whatever you have to say," Wrex grumbled, "just say it already."

At that point, Ashley decided there was no getting out of it. Taking a deep breath, she said "Okay then. Look, I know this is you're ship-"

"As well as Steve's and Michael's," Natasha interrupted.

"Right, and I know you guys are running things differently. But, are you three sure we can trust the aliens? Vakarian and Wrex, I mean."

Natasha's left eyebrow arched at that. "You don't trust them?"

"To be honest, ma'am, I don't really trust aliens in general. Well, I don't trust that they'll remain as our allies, anyway," Ashley answered. "Think about it this way, ma'am, if you're fighting a bear, and the only way to escape is to sic your dog on it, you'll do it. No matter how much you love your dog, it isn't human."

At that point, Natasha had a deep, visible frown on her face. "I'll have you know that I faced down a fucking Thresher Maw, Gunny, and I can confidently and truthfully say that I **never** had to sacrifice Lucy to survive."

"Who?" I asked confusedly.

"My German Shepherd," she answered. "She was pretty much the mascot of my squadron. Always kept our spirits up." Smiling a melancholy smile, she continued "Brought her with us everywhere…even to that hellhole Akuze. The last of my squad had to take turns carrying her as we made our way to the shelters after she lost a leg to that fucking worm. Lucy and I made it. The others…weren't as lucky." Returning to her frown, she continued "So I don't think that's a very good analogy to cover up racism, Gunny."

_Damn. She and her team risked their lives…just to save a dog?_,I thought. _If she was that loyal to an animal, just how much does her loyalty run for her allies?_

I returned to reality just as Ashley was saying "It's not racism, not really, anyway. All I'm saying is, in the situation I just described, the Council may be our allies now. However, if push comes to shove, they'll send us at the proverbial bear just to save themselves."

"Maybe," Steve said as he walked up to us with Malak right behind him, "but that doesn't mean we should start treating them as if we don't need their help."

"To be honest, sir, I think we'd have better luck without them. The Alliance needs to learn to stand on its own, make our own destiny. Not act as lapdogs to those who think we're their new pets," Ashley said with conviction.

Silence ruled for a few seconds. "Damn, Ash," I said. "Those seem to be pretty strong beliefs."

"Yeah," she replied, "it comes from being a Williams. But honestly, I don't think I could bring myself to trust aliens even if I **wasn't** a Williams."

"You might be right, Ashley," Malak said calmly. "Maybe the Council can't be trusted to help us if the time comes. But that doesn't mean we can't still be allies with them. Besides, we're new to the galactic scene, even with the quarians and A.I.s helping us out. And to the rest of the galaxy, the Alliance look like power-hungry upstarts, wanting to control everything. If making our own destiny includes putting ourselves above the others, then I say it's a pretty crappy destiny."

Now it was Ashley's turn to be stunned into silence. "So what, you're saying that aliens have a right to get in our way if they feel threatened by us?"

He shrugged. "Why not?" he asked with a smile. "Isn't that what we do to those who threaten us?"

With that, Ashley was visibly surprised with the answer. Before replying, Joker said _"We're about three minutes out from the Mass Relay. If anyone has anything to do before we enter the Artemis Tau cluster, I'd take care of it pronto."_

"Guess we'll have to continue this another time," Steve said. "So, Tasha, who's going on the ground team with you?"

Thinking it over a bit, she activated her Omni-tool to contact the rest of the squad. "Wrex, Michael, Garrus, Rika, you four are coming down with me. Gear up and head to the Cargo Bay."

* * *

_**Ten minutes later…**_

* * *

As soon as Rika walked out of the elevator, she joined up with us by the _Mako_. "Okay, the mission is simple. Find Dr. T'Soni, get her back to the _Normandy_, gun down anything in our way. Any questions?"

I raised my hand and asked "Who's driving?"

Natasha gave me a smile that sent chills down my spine. "Me."

_God have mercy on our souls._

Before we piled in, I stopped in front of the others and said "Wait. Before we head out, I've got something I wanted to ask you. While we're out on missions, would you guys mind calling me Guardian?"

They all held looks of confusion on their faces. "Sure," Garrus said, "but, why?"

Shrugging, I answered "Call me paranoid, but I'd feel a lot safer if no one we fought knew my real identity. Makes it harder to target those closest to me that way."

Natasha nodded at that. "Understandable. Alright, during missions, we'll refer to you as Guardian."

"How come he gets a codename and the rest of us don't?" asked Rika. The other murmured in agreement, causing Rika to continue "If he gets one, then I say so do the rest of us."

Sighing, Natasha said "Fine."

Smiling, Rika said "Cool, then my codename will be…Kunoichi, after the female ninja. Garrus, you'll be…" Looking at his sniper rifle, and remembering his perfect headshot back at the clinic, she finished her thought by answering "Sharp shot." Nodding at his codename, she went on to say "And Wrex. Your codename will be…Carnage." That caused him to grin widely. Which actually made him even more scary looking. "And Shepard, your codename can be…the Black Widow." This resulted in a few confused looks directed at her. "What? She's deadly, quiet, and she practically **looks** like the Black Widow. Am I the only one who sees it?" Ignoring her, we all entered the _Mako_ and waited for our destination.

After Steve and Joker were able to locate the planet Liara was on (the only planet with Prothean ruins on it), Joker brought us down to Therum's surface before the _Mako_ launched out of the ship and landed on the surface below. A few bumps later, and the first analysis was that we were still in one piece. Then there was the next obstacle: Shepard's driving.

As Natasha started driving forward, Joker called us over the radio. _"Commander, I'm getting some strange readings from the planet's surface. I mean, really strange, like off the damn charts. I'd suggest keeping an eye out, ma'am."_

As we continued on, I waited until we were driving on a straight path before getting out of my seat and heading to where Natasha sat. Knowing what was bound to happen, I said "Maybe we should stay on guard, Black Widow. For all we know, this are is crawling with-"

"**GETH!"**

Sure enough, Garrus was right. A geth drop ship swooped down in front of us and dropped two geth Armatures in an attempt to stop us. _I hate being right._

Natasha silently swore and said "Carnage! Take position in the gun. We're going to turn these glorified tin cans into scrap metal!"

Grinning like a madman, Wrex grabbed a hold of the gun controls and started unleashing a barrage of rounds at the two Armatures. While he was doing this, Natasha was driving around, trying to keep the _Mako _from getting blasted to pieces. **"Hold still, Widow!" **Wrex cried out. **"I can barely hit anything with your driving!"**

"**Sorry!"** she replied, **"You're just going to have to work with what you have!"** _Easy for you to say_, I thought. _All you're doing is *urp* driving around. *ugh* Very badly, too._

About three minutes of continuous gunfire later, both Armatures were reduced to smoldering pieces of tech. Leaning over to Natasha, I said "You know, Widow, we could probably salvage those Armatures for any useful tech. I bet Tali would also like a chance to study it to improve our chances against the geth in the future."

Thinking about it for a minute, Natasha said "Alright then. Kunoichi, Sharp shot, you two are coming out with me. We'll salvage what we can from the flashlights and continue onward. Carnage, Guardian, you two stay put and keep an eye out. I don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

Exiting the _Mako_, the three went to salvage what they could while Wrex and I just sat quietly in the armored vehicle. And to be honest, I'm currently content to simply sit here in peace and quiet, even if it's with someone as scary as Wrex. "So," he said, "why Guardian?"

"What?" I asked.

Wrex turned to me and asked "Why are you called Guardian, kid? And where did you get that name?"

Pausing for a few seconds, I slowly asked "If I tell you, do you promise to keep quiet about it?"

Shrugging, he said "Depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not it's a good enough secret."

I sighed. "Fine. It's…it's a codename I received when I woke up in a facility on Eden Prime. The facility belonged to an Alliance black ops organization called Cerberus, and they're the ones who apparently spent a lot of time and money to save my life. Besides, Guardian sounds pretty cool, don't you think?"

"Mm-hm," he calmly said. "So why hide this from the others?"

"Well," I answered, "it's because they currently believe that I lived on Eden Prime my whole life. The only ones who know differently are Captain Anderson, a woman named Kahlee Sanders, possibly Udina, and now, you." Before he could ask, I said "Trust me, if I told you where I **actually** came from, you'd think I was insane."

He stared for a few seconds. "Fair enough. I guess I can keep quiet for now." Leaning back in his seat, he continued "But you'll have to tell the others the truth eventually, kid. Trust me when I say this: secrets have a way of biting you in the ass."

Looking down, I said "I know, Wrex. But I can't just tell them. I have to do it when the time is right, you know?"

He nodded. At that moment, the others came in with a trove of geth technology. "Okay," Natasha said, "I think we've got enough here. Let's move out."

_Great. More of Natasha's driving._

From then on, we spent the whole time shooting up geth, salvaging their remains, turning unnecessary items into Omni-gel, and trying to keep our center while in motion (which is hard when Natasha is behind the wheel, by the way). Also, I learned what krogan vomit looked like. Oh, how I wish there was a jug of mind bleach nearby.

Eventually, we reached the spot where we had to abandon the _Mako_ and go the rest of the way on foot. Taking out our weapons, we charged forward and began our rampage. Rika kicked things off by throwing two kunai knives into the chests of the two farthest geth (an impressive feat), and watched as the kunai knives exploded, sending geth debris everywhere. Garrus went on to snipe the next farthest geth with his Mantis, while Wrex simply used his Claymore shotgun and fired a Carnage shot directly at a small group of geth troopers. They never knew what hit 'em.

Natasha took out her Lancer assault rifle and laid down some cover fire while I loaded my Desert Eagle .50, took aim, and watched as the closest geth's head exploded. It was a beautiful sight (until some of its remain splattered across my face. Not cool). I charged forward, taking down more geth as I went, until I ran out of ammo and was forced to run back to the others while a squard of five geth chased me (not funny. Stop laughing). Five kunai, one sniper round, and two individual carnage shots later (which launched me forward and planted my face onto the ground), the small squad was only pieces of scrap. Looking up at Natasha, I smiled and said "I could've taken them."

Rolling her eyes, she said "Suuuuurrreeee."

We then walked onwards, heading right to the entrance of the ruins. Knowing what was about to happen, I unlatched _Morning Glory_ from my back and primed it for action. This caught the attention of the others, causing me to say "What? You can never be too careful."

As soon as I said it, a large object crashed into the ground. Regaining our balance, we pointed our weapons at what we assumed to be geth. Oh, if only we were right. Instead of the Armature I expected there to be, a mech as large as a YMIR mech stood upon its large legs. As its single, red light of an eye lit up, it activated the guns it had for arms, both looking powerful enough to tear us to pieces. A few other mechs landed around it. These mechs looked like LOKI mechs, only tougher-looking, with larger shoulder plates, a curved head, and each possessed an M-96 Mattock Auto assault riffle. Which they aimed at us.

_Things __**cannot **__get any worse._

"_Target located,_ they all said as they looked right at us. _"Secondary objective: apprehend Dr. T'soni. Primary objective: destroy Michael Anderson."_

_Huh. I stand corrected._

Only one thing escaped my mouth as the mechs began to open fire on us. And I pretty much think it was the **only** thing any reasonable person would say in this situation.

"**RUUUUUNNNNN!"**

* * *

**A/N: Well, shit's about to get crazy up in here. Bet you who played the first **_**Mass Effect**_** weren't expecting THAT! In case anyone was wondering, the mechs are from the mobile game **_**Mass Effect: Infiltrator.**_** The big mech is called the Ogre mech, while the smaller mechs are called Orcus mechs. **

**For those who are familiar with them, I know they are Cerberus mechs. However, the mechs aren't from Cerberus in this fic. Who these belong to will be addressed in a later chapter. For now, let's just say they belong to a party invested in the hero's demise.**

**Until next time, read and review, please.**


	11. Journey's Start, Pt 5

**Author's Note: I don't own anything Mass Effect related. As much as I'd like to, Bioware is the one holding the cards in that department.**

**Also, I'm sorry if it took too long to get this chapter out. Life's just been keeping me distracted (though things like **_**Man of Steel**_** served as an enjoyable distraction) and/or suffering from writer's block. Word to the wise, I'm planning on churning out at least 1 or 2 chapters a month.**

**I'm also going to be introducing a few "guests" in this chapter, who will eventually become main characters in the story. So in order to get this out of the way, let me just say that I don't own those characters. They are the property of their rightful creators.**

**Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW!**

* * *

**Journey's Start, Pt. 5: New Friends, New Enemies**

* * *

_Unknown POV, hours ago:_

* * *

The darkness is our ally. Anonymity is our greatest weapon. These tools allow us to do as we please. These weapons help us to run things from behind the scenes. These powers let us keep our galaxy in balance.

It is an unspoken truth amongst us. It is not those with blatant power who are the masters of the universe; those who control them from the shadows, who control battles with information, those who keep the masses in check so that the natural order is never disrupted. They are the **true** rulers of the galaxy.

However, it never hurts to have figureheads in power. Especially if those figureheads are the Council of Citadel space, or Aria T'Loak of Omega. Though they don't realize it, we control them through actions. We create situations in which they have no choice but to walk the paths we desire. And through that, we maintain control.

Unfortunately, as we have recently learned, not **everything **can be controlled. Those mongrels, the **humans**, have proven that many times. Upon our discovery of them, we hoped to control them by making them a "client race" of the turians. If they hadn't allied themselves with those **filthy** quarians, or those damned A.I.s, we would have succeeded. Instead, they managed to draw the conflict out long enough for the Council to make peace, and allow the Alliance to live freely in Citadel space.

After that, we tried a different approach: allow the batarian Hegemony to raid the Alliance, either slaughtering or enslaving all they came across. For a time, it succeeded. But humanity proved to be more of a thorn in our sides than we thought. Soon after the raids began, however, the Alliance gained the temporary help of the krogan to protect their colonies. Because of those brutes, the batarians became more cautious, never attacking a colony unless they were **sure** they could successfully raid it. In their war with the Hegemony, humanity had somehow even managed to push the batarians back from Elysium, all because of that damned Steven Shepard. But our plan came crashing down at Torfan, when the primitives proved their ruthlessness. After that, batarians never dared to attack another human colony, only working through mercenaries or slavers to get what they wanted.

But most annoyingly, the biggest blow we were ever dealt by the humans was by a boy. A human boy, no older than 18. He managed to discover one of our bases, dedicated to gaining an edge against the humans, for when the day would come that they and their quarian filth and A.I. garbage would be put in their places. But thanks to that one boy, aided by two others, the base was destroyed, the surviving subjects escaped, and we lost our greatest secret weapon.

When humanity and their lowly allies came onto the galactic scene all those years ago, they simply annoyed me. When they ruined our attempts to enslave them, they began to anger me. Now, though? Now, they have succeeded at pissing. Me. Off.

Now, we have **just** learned through our agents that not only is the boy still alive, even after we believed him to have died a year ago, but now he was made a SPECTRE. To add insult to injury, that status was also given to two other humans. They were to bring down Saren, our greatest agent, for his actions on Eden Prime. That was the last straw.

As the screens surrounding me lit up, the distorted images of my fellow compatriots came into view. Our meeting could finally begin.

"You all know why we're gathered her," I said. "That human, Michael Anderson, is still alive."

"_Not only that,"_ said the figure on screen 1, _"but he and two other humans, the Shepard siblings, are now members of Special Tactics and Recon. Truly, the galaxy has gone to the varren."_

"_I think that I speak for all of us,"_ said the figure on screen 5, _"that we cannot stand for this. They must be eliminated. Now!"_

The figure on screen 2 sighed. _"Yes, but we cannot do anything until we have a lead. Unless we know where they're going-"_

"_Which is why this one has a lead on the human's current destination,"_ the figure on screen 3 said. _"This one's sources say that he is en route to find Matriarch Benezia's daughter on Therum. If we act quickly, then we can end him."_

_I swear, that hanar can really work miracles._ "Alright. Send a squad of mechs consisting of one Ogre and four Orcus mechs. If they fail, send in the _Quaker_. If possible, capture Dr. T'Soni so she can be handed over to her mother. I'm sure she will make a valuable ally, in due time."

The figure on screen 2 hummed a bit. _"I'll have the squad set to go in a few minutes. From the shadows, comes power."_

We each repeated our solemn chant, then cut the feeds. Getting up to look at the vastness of the stars, I allowed myself to feel a faint joy. _There's no escape for you this time, boy. None can escape our reach…_I took a deep drink from my glass…_for the entire galaxy lays in the grasp of the Dark Hand._

* * *

_Unknown POV, A few minutes ago:_

* * *

"Well, John, it looks like Michael sure hasn't lost his love of destruction," I said.

As the three of us looked at path of destruction in front of us, I couldn't help but notice my giant of a friend nod his head in agreement. "If there's one thing Michael is good at," he said, "it's making chaos for his enemies wherever he goes."

I couldn't help but remember when he paraphrased something from a graphic novel series he once read: _"I like to blow into town, cause maximum damage, and disappear; just like a KISS concert. Though with no unintended pregnancies in my wake."_ Sure enough, that was the best way to describe that man once he got into a fight. Looking at his handiwork, that has yet to change.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure his newfound pals had a hand in this," my metal-armored friend said. "I mean, these tread marks are obviously from a _Mako_. And last I checked, you needed at least two people to use one of those bad boys: one to drive, the other to shoot."

"No shit, Sherlock," I said giving a sarcastic look at him. "He **was** made a SPECTRE an' given a mission to track an' take down that S.O.B. Saren, alongside those Shepard siblings. It'd make sense that he'd be with others, Tony."

He looked straight at me. Though I couldn't see his face, I could tell he had an expression on his face that would make a short tempered man punch him_._ "Has anyone ever told you that your Southern accent just sounds downright sexy?" he said cockily. Before I could answer, he returned his attention back to the scene before us. "Judging from the bio-signatures, it looks like he was traveling with at least three others: two human females, one turian male."

"Wonder what brought them here," John said.

"Beats me, big green," Tony said. "Though seeing as there's a Prothean ruin nearby, it might be a lead on this 'Conduit' thing Michael was telling the Council about."

I sighed. It seemed like Michael just couldn't help but get involved in dangerous situations where lives were at stake. First his rescue of the three of us, now this. Smiling, I couldn't help but remember that that was one of the reasons I liked the guy. He was always thinking of the well being of others.

"Anna!" Tony yelled. "If you're done thinking about how much of a shot you have with Michael, maybe you can catch up with the rest of us!"

That quickly shook me back to reality. Thank God my enviro-suit's visor covered my face, otherwise Tony would just mock me about it even more. Yeah, okay, so I have a bit of a crush on Michael. But it's not like I'd actually have a shot with him. He and I couldn't even actually touch each other without me-

"What are those?" John asked.

Looking up, I saw a group of small meteorites heading towards the spot where the ruins were. As soon as they hit the ground, a dull _BOOM_ filled the air. _That can't be good_, I thought.

"_Sir, the readings from those objects were synthetic, though they didn't resemble any known geth signatures. However, it seems they are an exact match for the mechs from the Facility."_

My blood froze instantly at the mere mention of that hellhole. "Mah God," I said quietly. "It's them."

Tony tried to fly off to help, but the jet boots sparked a few times before failing. "Dammit," he growled. "The heat from this place is interfering with my suit. J.A.R.V.I.S., how long will it take to get to where those mechs landed?"

"_About 10 minutes, sir,"_ he answered.

"Double time it people!" he yelled. I didn't notice at first, but I seemed to be in the lead as we ran for the site. Even though I was barely breathing at this point, thanks to my fried air-conditioning unit in my suit, I was still maintaining my lead. Then the explosion resounded throughout the skies.

_If those sons of bitches kill him,_ I thought to myself with venom, _they'll find out how much of a bad idea it is to piss me off._

* * *

_Michael's POV, Now:_

* * *

As the explosion sends us flying forward, I am reminded how much I hate mechs.

_Why the hell are there mechs here in the first place?! Last I checked, we were supposed to fight a few geth and an Armature, not an Ogre mech and a few Orcus mechs!_ Gathering my bearings after that blast, I ran like the devil and joined Natasha behind one of the crates. "I don't suppose anyone here knows how to deal with those things?!" I yelled as the Orcus mechs opened fire.

"Sorry," Rika yelled as she threw a grenade, "but those things are pretty much immune to hacking and Sabotage, and my Overload setting on my Omni-tool is still wonky. I still have a few shield disruptor kunai, but other than that, I'm pretty much useless here!"

I looked at her incredulously. "What about those guns I bought you?!"

"I pawned them off to the requisitions officer for spare credits!"

"**ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!"**

"What?" she yelled, "I hate guns!"

I let out an exasperated sigh as another explosion goes off next to me. "Jesus H. Christ! You are as bad as Azrael!"

Wrex fired a Carnage shot, knocking one of the Orcus mechs flat on their back. "I know, right? What's to hate about them?" he asked. "Last I checked, they get the job done pretty well!"

"Don't mind her," Garrus said. "For as long as I've known her, she's always liked bladed weapons more than guns!"

"Um, guys?" Natasha cried out. "How about we focus on taking down the mechs? Because they are a bitch to kill, and are starting to piss. ME. **OFF!**"

With that, we started to open fire on the mechs. Natasha and I turned our heavy pistols at the closest Orcus mech and unleashed a torrent of slugs. However, judging by how the mech recoiled from my shots, it looked like I had the advantage against these things. Putting in a new clip, I took aim at its head and fired four shots. The first two took down the last of its shielding; the last two managed to make two holes appear, just before it fell down and never came back up.

Activating my shield and sword, I went out into the open with Natasha right behind me. From the safety of the cover I was providing, she threw a few discs toward the two closest Orcus mechs. It wasn't until the discs exploded that I realized that those were grenades. However, before we could react, the Ogre mech fired another round at us. The shot crashed into my shield, sending me hurtling backwards into Natasha and crashing to the ground.

That's when Wrex barreled forward, firing a Carnage shot square in the chest of the Orcus mech closest to him. As the mech fell to the ground, he aimed his Claymore shotgun right at its head and pulled the trigger. Bits and pieces of metal flew across the field where the mechanical head once was, leaving a smoldering corpse behind and a grinning krogan battle master on top of it.

At that point, Garrus and Rika took the stage. Rika threw 2 kunai at the farthest Orcus, electrocuting it while the kunai destroyed its shields. While it was stunned, Garrus popped up from behind his crate and took aim with his Mantis. One well placed shot later, and its head was no more. Now, all that was left to destroy was the Ogre mech.

Easier said than done.

First off, let me tell you that these are tough sons of bitches. I've never played the game that these mechs were in, so I can't say for sure how tough an Ogre mech actually is. I can tell you, however, that the one I'm facing are about as strong as a YMIR, only a bit bulkier. Secondly, judging by how it won't go down, it's like fighting a YMIR on Insanity difficulty (to those unfamiliar, that is the highest difficulty on Mass Effect 2), so that makes it even more of a bitch to fight.

Still, that didn't stop us from trying.

Wrex started the fight off by unleashing his trusty Carnage shot straight at the Ogre's chest, resulting in an explosion that rocked the mech only slightly backwards. Garrus and I followed this by firing straight at the metal monster's torso, with Rika sending a kunai at its head. As soon as the blade made contact, an electrical field burst out, causing the mech to move about irregularly.

Natasha saw this chance and made a beeline right behind the Ogre, pulling Garrus and Rika along. Once behind, she yelled out "Sharp shot, Kunoichi, aim for the limb joints! Guardian, Carnage, keep the pressure on that son of a bitch's torso!"

Following her instructions, Wrex and I unleashed a torrent of rounds at the hulking figure. This caused the mega-mech to focus on the target in front of it: us. This was a good thing, as it didn't pay attention to the area behind it. Taking their chance, Garrus took aim and fired a few well placed shots at the back of the Ogre's right knee, while Rika buried a kunai in the back left knee. Both attacks caused the Ogre to lurch forward, stumbling as it attempted to regain its footing. Natasha didn't give it the chance, and lobbed a few grenades at the back of its head, all of which she modified to explode on impact. The explosion caused the Ogre to completely lose its footing, sending it speeding face first into the ground.

Taking this chance, we all rushed forward and unleashed all we had on its head. Fifteen seconds later, and the mech never moved again. As the sound of our gunfire died down, I noticed that we were all breathing pretty heavily (though Wrex tried to hide it in an attempt to look tougher than the rest of us. It worked). "Holy…shit…" Garrus said wearily. "Those were…the toughest…mechs…I've ever…fought…"

"No kidding," Rika said. "I've never…seen anything like them before."

Without thinking, I said "I have." Realizing too late (and giving myself a mental thrashing), I looked up to see everyone looking at me. "But only on blueprints. They were supposed to be in the testing phase."

Natasha gave me a suspicious glare. Before she could speak, Wrex cut her off and said "Yeah, well, guess someone managed to get these tin cans onto the production line." Lifting himself up from the ground, he continued "Doesn't really matter at the moment, though. We still have an asari to find."

Recognition lit up our faces. "He's right," Rika said. "We can talk more about this after we've saved Dr. T'Soni."

And so the five of us headed towards the entrance to the ruins. Natasha was still a bit suspicious of me, though it looked like she had decided to let it go until we got back to the ship. I could already tell that was going to be a fun conversation.

* * *

We all decided to walk in single file: first Wrex, then me, followed by Garrus, Natasha, and finally Rika. The tunnel was narrow, dimly lit, smelled of year long unwashed ass (I would assume), and was barely able to allow us to walk without the risk of losing our footing. Oh, and it was slanting downwards. Six seconds in and I already hated this place.

"_Well, get ready, because you're about to like it even less."_

My head perked up at the familiar voice.

_Hikari?_

"_No, it's Moses. Of course it's me. Who were you expecting to talk in your head?"_

I mentally shrugged. _I don't know, but the last time I heard a voice in my head, it was male_.

I heard her face palm herself. _"For the love of…Never mind. Look, I wanted to give you a heads up: you're going to be having company soon."_

_What kind of company?_

"_Let's just say, they're people from your past."_

My brows furrowed at that. _Could you __**be **__anymore unclear?_

"_Sorry, but being clear takes all the fun out of the surprise. Oh, and mind the right ear."_

Before I could say anything, she was gone. _I'm really starting to hate that girl._

Literally a second later, a geth trooper stepped out in front of us and took aim. Garrus beat it to the punch, and blew the synthetic's head clean off with his Mantis. I immediately clutched the right side of my head and screamed **"OW! DAMN IT, SHARP SHOT! THAT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO MY FUCKING EAR!"**

Cringing, Garrus sincerely cried out "Sorry!"

I raised my Desert Eagle .50 and gunned down the next trooper, starting our charge toward a group of geth. **"I SWEAR TO THE ALLMIGHTY, IF I GO DEAF, I WILL PERSONALLY KICK YOU IN THE GROIN!"**

He cringed even more as he took down a geth sniper. "Duly noted," he muttered.

"Heh, maybe we should get Guardian angry more often," Wrex said while gunning down two geth troopers. "It seems he fights better when he's angry!"

"Stow it for now, Carnage!" Natasha said as she threw an Overload straight at a geth rocket trooper. "Last thing we need is Guardian going berserk on us!" Looking at the group of synthetic corpses strewn out before me, she added "Or aiming that rage **at** us."

Soon we reached the elevator. Before we entered, I managed to calm myself down enough to look down, and noticed that this place was bigger than it was in the game. I mean, really bigger, like at least more than a hundred stories high. Suddenly, I found myself a little weak in the knees. _Why did I look down? Nothing good ever comes from looking down._

As we rode the down (and after I calmed down a bit), I noticed the creaking this thing was making. I guess that was to be expected, seeing as there were five people (one of whom is a krogan) riding this thing. Plus, these ruins were more than 50,000 years old. That fact, however, did not help relieve my nervousness. "Uh, guys?" I said tensely. "Something tells me we're going over the weight capacity."

"Can't be from me," Wrex said. "I've been slimming down for the past hundred years. You all have the honor of gazing upon a krogan in peak physical condition."

Rika couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, I bet that's why you get **all** the ladies. It helps draw attention away from your scars."

That got the rest of us to laugh lightly, even Wrex. "And yet, I still look better than a turian."

"Well, I don't know about that," Garrus said. "But at least you look better than, say, a batarian, or a vorcha, or-"

"**GETH!"**

Natasha's warning managed to be our saving grace, as we managed to take cover before a few geth drones opened fire on us. However, a stray shot managed to hit Rika in the leg, causing Wrex to dive down and act as a living shield to protect her. Wrex managed to get her to cover, though not before his back had become riddled with gunfire. _Man, you just gotta love that healing factor the krogan have._

Natasha sent a few hand signals in Garrus' direction, which he responded to with a nod. A few seconds later, both she and Garrus readied their pistols, popped out of cover, and took out every drone with four shots each. One of the drones managed to land near me, so I decided to hand it over to Natasha in order to salvage it, while Garrus and I checked on Wrex and Rika. "Don't worry about me," Wrex said. "Krogan are made to endure punishment."

"Yeah," Rika said with a groan, "And I just need some medigel for my wound, then I'll be right as rain."

After Natasha applied medigel to the wound, we entered the other elevator and began to make our decent. About a quarter of the way down, I was immediately put off by the more frequent groaning and creaking as we went further down. From the looks of it, so was Garrus. "Well," he said, "that doesn't sound good."

"Yeah," I said nervously. "The pulley definitely sounds like-"

_**CRACK**_

"**SSSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!"**

As my scream echoed through the cavern, our elevator free fell to the ground below, taking us with it. Clinging on for dear life, we braced ourselves for what would most likely be a very messy death for us all. _After all the good I did in my brief time in this universe, I die in a fucking __**elevator**__?! Karma, not only are you a fucking urban legend, you are a whore as well._

Suddenly, I felt a slight jolt beneath us. Then I noticed that we were…_slowing down?_ As we came to a stop, we were pushed up just a bit, then allowed to quickly drop to the ground right below us. However, none of us were willing to let go of the elevator, so we couldn't see exactly **what** it was that saved us.

Metal footsteps made their way toward us. We all tensed up, fearing that a geth had found us. As the footsteps stopped, we bolted backward and aimed our guns at the source. That source being a humanoid, robotic figure, mostly light red with gold accents, a red faceplate, and bright red lights. But what really got my attention was that it looked just like…

"Iron Man?"

Looking right at me, his faceplate lifted up to reveal a human face. Then my jaw fell through the floor. It was the face of Tony Stark. Not just **any** Tony Stark…it was Tony Stark as played by Robert Downey Jr., in the flesh. Standing right in front of us.

What.

THE.

**FUCK?!**

Smiling, Tony said "Hey, Mike. How's life been treating you?"

…

…

…

…Seriously, it's almost as if the universe finds some kind of sick pleasure in throwing my mind for a loop.

Their faces painted with shock, Garrus and Rika exclaimed "TONY?!"

"Garrus! Rika! How've you two lovebirds been?" Tony happily asked. "Been doing anything I wouldn't do?"

At that, Garrus looked a bit annoyed. "Yeah, it's definitely you, all right."

Rika leapt up and threw her arms around him. Laughing she said "Oh my God! I can't believe this! It's really you!"

Natasha got up and pulled Rika away from Tony. "While I appreciate the assistance," she said calmly, "I'd like to know **why** the Alliance's top scientist is here in the Traverse, wearing battle armor that looks to be experimental."

He shrugged. "Actually, we came here to find Michael. After I heard from Alliance command that he was made a SPECTRE alongside you, I intercepted a communication telling me where he was going. After that, I contacted the others, we took a ship out here, and the rest is history."

Natasha looked at him incredulously for a few seconds, ten brought her face straight into her left palm. "I swear, if you weren't the Alliance's best shielding manufacturer, I'd have you jailed for hacking Alliance transmissions." Looking at me, she asked "And why did you call him 'Iron Man?'"

"Uh, well, I…wait," I said, trying to change the subject. "What do you mean, others?"

He gave me a shit-eating grin and replied "Look up."

I looked up, and my jaw once more fell down. Along with those of my friends. Gently floating down were two human figures, one male, one female. The female looked to be about Natasha's height, and was wearing a green and yellow enviro-suit, with a brown leather jacket adorning her torso. She was also the one carrying the male. And the one flying. The male, however, was gigantic, about 7 feet in height. He was clad in dark green armor with black accents, and wore a helmet that covered his face. The gold tinted visor also helped to hide his appearance.

Both were carrying weapons. The female had a Locust submachine gun and a Phalanx heavy pistol strapped to her hips, and an N7 Piranha shotgun as well. The giant man possessed weapons of every kind: on his back was an M-98 Widow sniper rifle, an M-7 Lancer assault rifle, and an M-920 Cain. He also possessed an M-300 Claymore shotgun, an N7 Eagle heavy pistol, and an N7 Hurricane submachine gun. One look at these two, and others would instantly assume the guy was the most dangerous based on his size and arsenal. But what really grabbed my attention was his armor. It looked so familiar.

"John! Is that really you?!" exclaimed Garrus.

The giant nodded. "Good to see you again, sir."

"Ahem," the female said, "Ah hope y'all haven' forgotten about little ol' me, would ya?"

At the sound of her southern accent, Rika squealed in delight. "Rogue! You're here too?! Holy crap, this is so AWESOME!"

Wrex scratched his head in confusion. "Okay, how do you all know each other?"

Tony turned his attention to the red armored krogan. "If you must know, Garrus, Michael, and Rika were the ones who saved our lives."

…Say what?

"Yeah," Rika said, "before Michael showed up again on Eden Prime, he helped Garrus and I out with a case. A while after that, we helped him take down a group that was threatening Captain Anderson. During that time, we destroyed this facility that had kidnapped humans and were using them in experiments. We saved everyone who wasn't dead, including Tony, John, and Anna. Next thing you know, Michael goes missing, shows up on Eden Prime, and he has amnesia."

The others looked at me in silence, each with a different expression (well, for those whose faces were visible): Wrex had a look of respect, Natasha had one of disbelief, and Tony simply looked surprised. John spoke up first: "You don't remember anything?"

As I scratched the back of my head, I nervously replied "To be precise, I can't really remember much from before waking up on Eden Prime. Bits and pieces, sure, but nothing major."

Anna looked a bit hurt by the news. "Ya don' even remembah us?" she asked sadly.

I hung my head and replied "Sorry, but no."

"Then explain why you called me Iron Man," Tony said.

_Back to this, eh?_ "Uh, well, that's an interesting story. You see, I remember reading a comic book series called 'Iron Man' in the past. Seeing as you look just like him, the name just came out."

He remained silent for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Makes sense, I guess."

_Wow, that went better than I thought._

"Getting back to the matter at hand," Natasha said, "we still have an asari archeologist to rescue. If you three would like to help us out, follow me."

Taking out his Claymore, John said "Lead the way, ma'am."

With that, we descended deeper into the ruins. Thankfully, we managed to find some stairs, so we didn't have to climb down. However, we still did need to find a way out of here, seeing as the elevator was totaled. Anna said she and Tony could fly us all out, though it would have to be two at a time. Natasha simply said we would worry about that when the time came.

* * *

A few minutes later, we came across a room that was blocked by a barrier curtain. On the other side, floating in an energy bubble, was everyone's favorite asari. "Dr. Liara T'Soni, I presume?" I asked nonchalantly.

She seemed to perk up at this. Eyes widening, she nervously asked "Who…who are you? Are you with the geth?"

"No, ma'am. My name is Guardian, one of the first human SPECTREs. We're here to make sure Saren doesn't get his talons on you," I said reassuringly.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Liara said "Well, until you can get past this barrier, I'm afraid you won't be able to do much. And I can't deactivate it, due to…um…accidentally activating a security measure. I haven't been able to move for days."

"_Try walking through it,"_ Hikari said.

_What?_

"_Just try it."_

As I nervously placed my hand on the barrier, I was shocked by what came next: my hand passed right through it. Oh, the look on Liara's face was absolutely **priceless**. I wish I had brought a camera with me. "How…how did you…?"

Before Liara could continue, I slowly began to walk through the barrier. The sensation was weird, yet strangely warm. Almost like I was walking in the springtime sun. I reached the other side, and turned around to see the dumbstruck looks on the other's faces. To respond, I simply shrugged and said "No idea. So doc, how do I turn off the fields?"

As she shook herself out of her stupor, Liara answered "The orange button on the console. That will deactivate the power."

"Hold on," Wrex said. "How do you know she isn't with Benezia? After all, she is Saren's top bitch."

Liara looked appalled. "What? I don't even…I haven't spoken to her in years! I have no idea why she joined Saren. Please, Just get me out of here!"

I looked to Wrex and said "Think about it, Carnage If she was with Benezia and Saren, the geth wouldn't be trying to kill her." That seemed to convince him, at least for now. Following Liara's instructions, I deactivated the fields, allowing Liara to drop to the floor and stretch her limbs.

"Thank you. As much as I'm fascinated by the Protheans, I have no intentions of becoming a part of their-"

Suddenly, a cylindrical object the size of a semi-truck burst through the ceiling, impacting with the ground below. Rushing out to get a good look at it, the device latched itself to the ground before glowing a sickly red. A rumbling sound then filled the cavern, causing everyone to fidget uncomfortably. "What's happening?" asked Rika.

Liara's face filled with horror. "By the goddess…that's a _Quaker_, an asari device used for landscaping. Except this one's been weaponized, capable of starting a major seismic event!" The rumbling became more violent. "These ruins are unstable. If we don't leave now, the volcano will bury us along with these ruins!"

"Damn it," Natasha muttered. She activated her Omni-tool and turned on her communication systems. "Joker! Get the _Normandy _to these coordinates, ASAP!"

We then rushed out of the room to a lift that was right outside. Liara turned it on, thus bringing us all the way to the top. The rumbling intensified the whole way up, threatening to bring the roof down on us at any second. _Note to self: never enter a Prothean ruin without a vehicle._

As we reached the top, we were greeted by the sight of a krogan, flanked by a squad of about thirty geth. "Surrender," the krogan said. "Or don't. That just makes things more fun."

"In case ya haven' noticed," Anna said, "this whole place is gonna blow sky high."

The krogan simply chuckled. "Exhilarating, isn't it?"

Tony face palmed himself. "Is this guy serious?" he asked incredulously.

"Thanks for getting the doctor for us," the krogan continued. "Just hand her over and you can go."

Natasha placed her arm in front of Liara. With a deadly look on her face, she said "Sorry, but that's not gonna happen. If you even put a finger on her, you lose your arm." Liara's face turned a darker shade of blue at that, leaving a small smile on her face from the act.

"Fine by me," he responded. "Kill them all. Spare the asari if you can. If not doesn't matter."

A second later, Tony brought his right hand up and fired a repulsor beam, blasting the krogan all the way backwards. The geth looked to the krogan, then to Tony. He gave them the classic hand taunt and said "Next."

The geth opened fire, scattering us all across the circular room. John raised his Claymore and took down the geth right next to him. He then took out his Hurricane and gunned down two more geth right behind it. As a rocket trooper was about to fire on John, Wrex used his biotics and Warped the rocket launcher, causing it to explode in its face. Before the metal corpse crumpled to the floor, Wrex raised his shotgun at a geth running up behind him, then proceeded to decapitate the unfortunate synthetic.

While this happened, Rika and Garrus were taking on eight geth at once, one of which was a Juggernaut. Aiming for that one first, Rika threw a kunai right into its head, causing it to shoot out a fountain of sparks. As Garrus finished off the geth closest to him, he took out his Mantis and aimed it point blank at the Juggernaut's head. Three guesses what happened to it. After that, the duo used widespread Overloads on the remaining geth, allowing Garrus to gun them all down.

Natasha and I were busy protecting Liara, though she helped to kill some geth as well. While the others were preoccupied, the three of us had managed to take down eight more geth, using Natasha's tech, Liara's biotics, and my kick-ass Omni-weapons. I mentally reminded myself to once again thank Daro for making these. I also had to remember to never piss off the future Shadow Broker, lest I risk my own life. "Watch out!"

Liara's warning came too late, as a geth Juggernaut rammed straight into me. I felt my breath escape my lungs from the impact, as well as a few ribs get cracked. I tried to escape, but the thing had me trapped in a bear hug that was slowly crushing me. As its grip tightened, I began to lose consciousness. _Well, at least I'm not dying in an elevator._

Before it could end me, the Juggernaut's head was torn right off of its body. The arms immediately slacked, which allowed me to graciously take in deep breaths as the metal corpse hit the floor. After I regained enough oxygen, I looked up to see Anna holding the Juggernaut's head in her hand. "Wow," I said awestruck. "You're stronger than you look."

She shrugged and said "It's not so tough, once ya absorb the strength of a krogan. The trick, though, is to make sure ya **only** absorb their strength." As she said this, I noticed her putting her glove back on her bare hand. At that point, it clicked into place.

Absorbing attributes of another? Wearing clothes that cover all your skin? Flying? A green and yellow color scheme? All of these, mixed with her beautiful southern accent, pointed to one conclusion for her true identity.

"Are you…Rogue?" I asked slowly. "As in, Rogue from the X-Men?"

Judging by the tone of her giggle, I'd say I hit the nail on the head. "About time ya remembah'd. Ah was worried that ah'd have to hit ya over the head with a fryin' pan to make ya remember."

Wow. Rogue, **the** Rogue, the southern belle of the freaking **X-Men**, was standing right in front of me. Not only that, but she just saved my life. Pointing behind her, she continued "An' in case ya haven' figured it out yet, he goes by the name Master Chief."

…Master Chief? As in, the SPARTAN super-soldier Master Chief? The man who practically single handedly saved humanity from the Covenant, the Flood, and the Didact? The man who's a master at both hand-to-hand combat **and** practically all forms of weapons?

Iron Man, Rogue, and Master Chief. **How** can these three be together? Scratch that, how can these three even be together in the **Mass Effect universe**?! Especially seeing as one is from a movie universe, another is from a comic universe, and the other is from a completely different video game franchise?!

"Okay," Tony said, thus bringing me out of my thoughts, "I think we got them all."

Looking around, I could see that he was right. All the geth were lying in pieces, the rest obviously having been taken down by Tony. Before I could comment, Tony was rammed into by the krogan, who was obviously stronger than e looked. He turned to Liara, then pulled off a biotic Charge and grabbed her. "All right," the krogan said with a gun to Liara's head, "I'm walking out of here with the asari. Any of you follow, she dies."

Liara looked to us in desperation. "Please," she quietly begged, "help-"

"Quiet, bitch!" yelled the krogan, silencing her with a pistol whipping.

I was the closest to her. The krogan wasn't looking at us, specifically me, meaning this was my only chance. I lunged forward, my golden biotics ignited by the first step. By now, my biotics had become second nature. Although I couldn't control their power or duration, I could at least now turn them on just by thinking of it. As I reached the krogan, I sidestepped him and lept for his side just as he took notice. But it was too late. I was withing point blank range, my biotics shining brightly. _Time to give you a taste of what your boss experienced, assclown._

My fist made contact with his side. As it sunk in deeper, I could tell the krogan was feeling the pain of a powerful force breaking his bones. The pain was so intense for him, he let go of Liara out of instinct. As soon as she was clear, I let loose, sending the bastard flying through the room. His flight was cut short as he collided with the wall, hitting the ground as an unconscious lump.

My light died away as the adrenaline rush subsided. As I breathed heavily, I looked to Liara and Tony to see if they were alright. Apart from being awestruck by my biotic display, and the bruises they were sure to get later, they were both going to be fine. _"Well,"_ I heard Hikari say, _"at least you're beginning to get a handle on your powers. And using them in the least amount of time, too. Impressive."_

_Aw, can it Hikari,_ I thought as a smile grew on my face. A smile that disappeared with the return of the rumbling.

At that point, the rumbling became extremely violent, causing chunks from the ceiling to come down. "Maybe we should go now?" I suggested.

Nodding, Natasha yelled out "MOVE OUT, EVERYONE! NOW!"

We dutifully followed that order, making a mad dash for the exit. John stopped to pick up the unconscious krogan before joining the rest of us. A moment later, magma burst from the cavern walls, blocking the way behind us. From then on, it was a race against time. We ran like hell for the surface, not stopping once. **"HURRY!"** Natasha yelled. **"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"**

The tunnel leading out came into view. We then kicked ourselves into overdrive, knowing that we were almost in the clear. Time almost seemed to slow down for me. What seemed like minutes took seconds, but the retardation of my time perception made it the longest seconds ever as the heat was catching up to us. We burst through the exit just as the tunnel collapsed, thus stopping the magma flow behind us. We took this moment to catch our breath before Liara looked at Chief. "Thanks…for the help…you three…" she said wearily.

Nodding, Rogue said "No…problem…"

"Hey, Shepard," Wrex said. "You think we have room on the team for four more?"

She looked at the others and said "Sure…the more…the merrier…I just have…one question, John."

"What is it, ma'am?" he asked.

"Why…did you…save the krogan?" she asked.

He dropped the krogan and said "So we can interrogate him, ma'am. He might have information on Saren and/or the Dark Hand. Plus, I remember Michael being reluctant to leave someone to die, even if it's an enemy. Ma'am."

She remained silent as she thought it over. "All right. Once he wakes up, we'll see what he knows. After that, we'll hand him over to the authorities." We all nodded in agreement at the decision. Smiling, I thought to myself that we might actually get a leg up on Saren. Then I noticed something Chief had said, which Natasha also noticed.

"What's the Dark Hand?" we both asked.

* * *

_Unknown POV, a few hours later:_

* * *

"**WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY SURVIVED?!"** I yelled with fury. And it was a fury well deserved. Not only did they wipe out the mech battalion, but they managed to outrun the _Quaker_, our best ground weapon.

_Just how hard is it to kill that fucking human?!_

The figure on screen 2 nervously coughed and said _"Well, as intel reports, a krogan working for Saren was turned over to the nearest authorities a few minutes ago. The ones who turned him in were Commander Natasha Shepard and Michael Anderson."_

The figure on screen 5 brought their hand up to their face. _"That kid is either extremely lucky, or he has someone looking out for him. Either way, he's proved to be a pain in the ass to kill."_

"_This one has further news to report,"_ the figure on screen 3 said. _"Among the group that turned the krogan in were three other humans. All of whom were once subjects of the Genome facility."_

A migraine was beginning to form in my head. "This day just keeps getting better and better," I muttered. Sighing, I said "This means we can't retaliate immediately. They've most likely told the _Normandy_ crew about our existence. If so, then we must act more cautiously than ever." Turning to the figue on screen 1, I said "How is Noveria coming along."

"_Extremely well,"_ the figure replied. _"We've already begun testing the subjects, and should have them ready as our personal shock troops within the next few months."_

"See to it that if the _Normandy_ docks there, it **never** leaves. I'll keep tabs on Feros, while you," I said to the figure on screen 5, "prepare the attack on Terra Nova."

The figure simply nodded. _"Consider it done. From the shadows, comes power."_

The screens cut to black, leaving me alone to brood. This human was starting to become an enormous problem. If he isn't ended on Noveria-

"_It seems you've once again failed."_

Spinning around, I trembled at the figure before me. "Master…"

"_It doesn't matter. Even if he foils us a thousand times, he can never hope to destroy our noble mission."_

I shook in fear and awe. His very presence made it difficult to breath, as if his awesome power were crushing your lungs. "Yes, my master. For the good of the galaxy."

He nodded. _"Indeed. For the good of the galaxy, the human race __**must**__ be destroyed."_

I simply nodded, and watched as he left through his portal. As I regained my breathing, I smiled to myself. _He's right. No one, not even Michael Anderson, can stop us now._

* * *

**Shit's getting real up in here! This Dark Hand is going to be a major player in the events in the future, pretty much replacing Cerberus as the antagonists.**

**Also, I would like to remind you all that I do not own Iron Man, Rogue, OR Master Chief. They belong to their rightful owners and creators.**

**Still, things should be pretty interesting now that their on the team. And yes, I'm going to have both Tali AND Rogue be possible romantic interests for the hero. Leave ideas for which pairing you would like to see in the reviews. **

**Until next time, please leave a review. BUT NO FLAMES!**


	12. Journey's Start, Final

**Alright, first thing's first. AUTHOR'S NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING RELATED TO MASS EFFECT. I also do not own ROGUE, MASTER CHIEF, or IRON MAN. THOSE BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS.**

**Also, I'd like to personally thank Reko-Luna for their contribution to the story (which was their ideas for codenames for the others). Seriously, thanks a bunch.**

**And another thing, to those who haven't seen it yet, I would recommend the movie **_**Pacific Rim**_**. Seriously, watching that movie was like watching an epic battle between giants. Only the giants were robots and enormous aliens.**

**Finally, I'm sorry if this took too long to churn out. I've been repeatedly sidetracked and suffered from writer's block. I'm just glad I managed to get this chapter out.**

**Now, on with the show! (Heads up, no combat in this chapter).**

* * *

**Journey's Start, Final: On the **_**Normandy **_**(Pt. 2)**

* * *

_Michael's POV:_

* * *

After we interrogated our new prisoner (which involved a lot of beating, mainly from Wrex), and preventing him from getting too beat up (mainly Rogue, Tali, Kaidan, and I), we handed him over to an Alliance ship in the area. They assured us that they would make sure he wouldn't get away, and that he'd be in prison for a long time. Before taking him away, the krogan looked at me and…thanked me. He apparently heard that one of the reasons he was spared was because of me, and remembered that I helped keep him from getting too injured.

"I am in your debt, human," he said. "When the time comes, know that Urdnot Grell will return the favor." And then he left without a fight.

_Something tells me I really haven't seen the last of that krogan,_ I thought as Grell left for an Alliance prison.

Through our questioning, we managed to find out about a possible geth incursion that was going to happen soon. Grell said he didn't know where, only that it was in a system near the edge of the Terminus. I had to remind myself to tell the Alliance to keep an eye on the Armstrong Cluster, along with a few other systems to avoid suspicion.

Until then, it was business as usual. Natasha called everyone up to the comm room for a debriefing, as well as to introduce Rogue, Tony, Liara, and John to the rest of the team. As we entered the room, two things entered my mind: first, it was a lot bigger than it appeared in the game. Second, there was a big, circular table in the middle of the room, with chairs all around it. The thing looked like it could seat twenty people, so everyone on the team were able to take their own seat. As we got ourselves situated, Steve said "Sounds like I missed quite the party down there, sis."

Natasha simply chuckled. "Oh, yeah. Mechs of unknown origin, doomsday machines, exploding ruins, and new squad mates to boot. Yeah, it was a real shindig, alright."

"Speaking of," Kaidan interjected, "would someone like to tell me why **the** Tony Stark, the Alliance's most famous scientist, playboy, philanthropist, and billionaire, is serving on our ship?"

"Simple," Tony answered. "I'm here for one reason, and one reason only." Without turning away, he pointed at me and said "To make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

Everyone else looked confused at that. "You see," he continued, "about a year ago, I was kidnapped, along with about a hundred other humans, by an organization known as the Dark Hand. From what I managed to find out about them, they're pretty much a secret society of control freaks with God complexes, believing that they alone are the rulers of the galaxy." He scoffed and said "Talk about delusional. Don't know **why** they took us, but I do remember it involved experiments." His face darkened as he remembered his time there. "**Deadly** experiments. Those whack jobs would take someone and inject them, cut them up, God knows what else. By the time we were rescued, only seven remained."

Kaidan, Bronson, Liara, Tali, and I were deeply disturbed by the very thought of that. Ashley and Natasha became furious, their fists clenching tightly until they whitened. Rogue slightly shuddered at the memories, while John put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Django, Garrus, Rika, Malak, and Wrex simply sat there in cold anger, their expressions easily showing that very anger.

It was Steve that broke the silence. "They experimented on humans, knowing they could die from them?"

Tony simply said "I honestly don't think they cared about what happened to us, pal. To them, we were just expendable lab rats."

Garrus scoffed. "Lab rats is too nice a term to describe what we saw," he said angrily. "Poor living conditions, malnutrition…those weren't experiments, those were glorified torture techniques."

I looked up at that. "So…the facility we raided and destroyed…that was…"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah…that was the Dark Hand's research facility. And thanks to you, Garrus, and Rika, the last seven subjects escaped with their lives." She smiled and said "To this day, they remember what you three did. They all owe you their lives." Frowning, she continued "Well, **almost** all of them."

Rika nervously laughed and said "Yeah, that guy was a real psycho. I'm surprised we even let him live." She smiled sadly. "Still, only seven…if we had found out about that hellhole earlier, we could have saved more. It's our fault that we didn't know sooner."

"Hey," Ashley said, "don't beat yourself up about it. You three did nothing wrong. The blame is all on this 'Dark Hand' group. Them and no one else."

Garrus nodded. "Yeah. And when I find them, I'm going to put a bullet in their heads for every person that died in that facility. Count on it."

"We'd have to find them first, my friend," Django said. "But right now, we have more pressing issues. Mainly a rogue SPECTRE runnig around the Traverse."

Natasha and Steve sighed simultaneously. "He's right," Natasha said. "For now, we have to focus on the mission at hand."

"_Speaking of missions,"_ Joker interrupted over the intercom, _"you were cutting it __**waaaay **__too close, Commander. Ten more seconds and you guys would've been swimming in molten sulfur in an active volcano. That tends to, uh kill people. Just for future reference."_

Steve merely shook his head at that. Smiling he said "Don't worry, Joker, I'll make sure sis doesn't do anything to make you look bad."

"_Please and thank you."_

Natasha slightly growled and replied "Oh, and Joker…listen in on our conversations again, and I'll personally put you in leg braces."

"_Already got 'em, so, I beat you to the punch."_

"Wiseass."

Liara simply looked confused. "We almost died down there, and your pilot is making jokes?" she asked.

"It's just what he does," Kaidan said. "Trust me, you get used to it."

"Ah'm already used to it," Rogue said. "Hangin' out with Stark tends to prepare ya for that kind of attitude."

With a musing smile, Tony said "I think I'm gonna like this 'Joker' guy."

Liara looked to Natasha with a look that practically said _Are they serious?_ Natasha simply smiled and said "Humor helps to ease the tension, Blue. Get used to it."

"I…I see," Liara said as she blushed from her nickname. "I haven't been around humans very much, which would explain why I'm unfamiliar with many of your customs.

"Still, I am grateful to you," she continued. "You all saved my life, and not just from the volcano. Those geth would have killed me, or dragged me off to Saren."

Kaidan leaned forward and asked "Yeah, why did Saren want you, anyway? Do you know anything about the Conduit?"

"She's got to know **something**, K," Bronson said. "After all, she **is** a Prothean expert. And last time I checked, that means she has knowledge about Prothean related subjects."

Liara looked a bit embarrassed by the praise. "Um, actually, all I even know about it is that it was somehow tied to the Prothean's extinction. That is my **real **area of expertise. I have spent the past fifty years of my life dedicated to figure out what exactly happened to them."

That got Tony's brows shooting straight up. "How old did you say you were?"

"I didn't," Liara answered. With a slight blush, she continued "Though I hate to admit it, I am only 106 years old."

Ashley whistled. "Damn!" she exclaimed with a smile, "I hope I look as good as you when I'm your age!"

"A century might seem long to us humans," Malak said, "but to the asari, Liara is barely considered more than a child."

"Exactly," Liara said. "That is why my work hasn't gotten the attention it deserves." Looking down with a slight frown, she continued "Because of my youth, other asari scholars tend to…dismiss my theories on the Protheans."

"I might be able to help you find out what happened to them," I said.

Returning my smile, Liara said "I appreciate the gesture, Guardian, but with all due respect, I have heard every theory out there. The problem is finding evidence to support them." She rubbed her temples and groaned "It is **extremely **frustrating that the Protheans left so very little behind. It is almost as if someone did not want the mystery solved. It is like someone came along after the Protheans were gone, and cleansed the galaxy of clues."

Wrex chuckled at that. "Really pisses you of, huh?" he asked with a smile.

Liara looked up and said "Not how I would have described how I feel about that, but yes."

"So you have no idea who or what might've done that?" Django asked.

"No," Liara answered with a frown. "However, I did discover something remarkable. According to my findings, the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously vanish. This cycle began long before them."

"I thought you said there wasn't any evidence," Steve said with a look of suspicion. "So where did you come up with this theory?"

Scoffing, Liara said "Please, Commander, I have been working on this for fifty years. I have tracked down every scrap and shred of evidence I could find. Eventually, patterns begin to emerge. Patterns that hint at the truth."

She realized that the others were having trouble understanding this. "It is…difficult to explain to someone else," Liara said. "I cannot point to one specific thing to prove my case. It is more like…a feeling derived from a half-century of dedicated research.

"But I know I am right! And eventually, I will be able to prove it. There were other civilizations before the Protheans. This cycle has repeated itself many times over."

"Well if the Protheans weren't the first," John said, "then who was?"

Liara hung her head in slight embarrassment. "I am afraid I don't know," she said. "There is little information on the Protheans. And even less on those who came before them. Though I cannot prove my theory, I know I am right!"

"Alright," Kaidan said, "but what were you saying about a cycle?"

"Quite simply, the galaxy is based on a cycle of extinction," Liara explained. "Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast down. Only ruins survive. The Protheans, for example, rose up from a single world until they had created an empire that spanned the entire galaxy. And yet even **they** climbed to the top upon the remains of those who came before them. Their greatest achievements-the mass relays and the Citadel-are based on the technologies of those who came before them. And then, like all the other forgotten civilizations throughout galactic history, the Protheans disappeared. I have dedicated my life to figuring out why."

I decided to just come out and tell her. No use beating around the bush on this particular subject, after all. "They were wiped out by a race of sentient machines," I said. "The Reapers."

Upon hearing this, Liara's face had become filled with shock. "The-the Reapers? I have never heard of-How do you know this?" she asked. "What evidence do you have?"

"Back on Eden Prime," Tali said, "Michael was thrown toward a Prothean beacon. A damaged one, at that. It burned a vision into his mind."

"Yeah," I groaned, rubbing my head, "and I'm having a hell of a time trying to make sense of it."

Liara contemplated on this new information. "Visions? That…that actually makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that still works is **extremely **rare." Realization dawned on her face. "That must explain why the geth attacked Eden Prime! The chance to acquire a working beacon-even a badly damaged one-is worth almost **any** risk.

"But the beacons were only programmed to interact with Prothean physiology. Whatever information you received would be confused, unclear." Liara then looked at me with an expression that was one-half awe, one-half 'I-want-to-take-you-away-to-study-you.' "I am **amazed** that you were able to make sense of it at all. A lesser mind would have been completely destroyed by the process. You must be remarkably strong willed, Guardian."

Throughout the whole tangent, Ashley had been trying to keep herself from interrupting, in hopes of actually coming across something that could give us a clue as to where the Conduit was. Now, though, she had decided to throw self-restraint out the window. "Uh, not to be rude," Ashley said, "but this isn't helping us find Saren. **Or** the Conduit."

Liara blushed at this. "You are right. I am sorry, but my scientific curiosity got the better of me. Unfortunately, I do not have any information that could help you find the Conduit. Or Saren."

"Great," Natasha mumbled, "we're back at square one."

I got up from my seat. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to have Liara stay on board with us," I said. "I don't know why Saren wanted you out of the picture, Liara, but I think it's best for everyone if we bring you along."

"Yeah," Rogue said. "Saren might come after her again, and ah couldn' think of anywhere safer than here on the _Normandy_."

"Indeed," Liara agreed. "My knowledge of the Protheans might be useful later on."

"And her biotics will be useful when a fight starts," Wrex added with a smile.

I looked at Steve. He sighed and said "Welcome to the team Liara. Same goes to you, John. Rogue. Mr. Stark."

"Oh! Before we head on out," Rika said excitedly, "I think it's time to give the others their codenames!"

Ashley cocked a brow. "Codenames?"

"Yeah," Natasha said. "Before we left for Therum, Wrex, Garrus, Rika, Michael, and I agreed that the ground team members would use codenames. Mine is Black Widow. Wrex is Carnage, Garrus is Sharp shot, and Rika is Kunoichi."

Bronson smiled at this. "AWESOME! Now Malak, Michael and I won't be the only ones with codenames! Okay, I say that Kaidan's codename should be 'Elvis!'"

Now it was Kaidan's turn to cock a brow. "Elvis?" he asked.

"Yeah! I mean, that hairdo makes you look like Elvis already, so why not?"

Kaidan looked to Steve and Natasha. "Does it really?"

**Steve: **"Yeah."

**Natasha: **"Pretty much."

He thought about this, then smiled. "Well, I was always a fan of 'the King' anyway."

"That's the spirit!" Bronson said. "Now, Steve's should be 'Straight Arrow.'"

He blinked at that. "Ex-**CUSE** me?" Steve exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Bronson said with a devious grin. "I know all about your little nickname in the Alliance. Mr. 'I don't smoke or drink or touch drugs.'" I couldn't help but notice that he had said that last part mockingly.

Everyone simply shrugged, then said "Works for us."

"You guys suck," Steve said defectively. He sighed and said "Fine. But I'm picking Ashley's codename."

"Fair enough," Bronson said.

"It's 'Warrior,'" he said immediately.

Ashley stared at Steve for a few seconds, then shrugged, deciding not to even bother. "Alright," she said, "Tali can be 'Savant.'"

"Tali looked at the gunnery chief and said "Savant?"

"It means 'expert,'" Django explained.

"Oh. Well, I guess it can work," Tali said contently.

"And Liara's can be 'Blue,'" Natasha said with a mischievous smile.

Liara looked a bit confused by her choice of a codename. "Just go with it," Steve said. "You'll get less of a headache that way."

"Very well," Liara said. As she got up, she stumbled a bit before falling into Natasha's arms.

"You okay, Blue?" she asked.

Blushing madly, she got up and said "Yes, I'm just a bit woozy, that's all."

"When was the last time you ate?" Kaidan asked with concern. "Or slept?" When he didn't receive an answer, he shook his head and said "Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."

"It is probably just mental exhaustion," Liara said reassuringly, "coupled with the shock of discovering the Prothean's true fate." Bringing a hand to her head, she continued "I just need some time to process all of this. Still, it would not hurt to be examined by a medical professional. It will give me the chance to think things over. Are we done here?"

I nodded. "Dismissed, everyone. Let's get back to it."

Everyone started getting up when Joker once more came over the intercom. _"I filed the report to the Council. Also, Udina, Raan, and Anderson are with them. Guess they heard about Stark being on board. You want me to connect you three to the Council?"_

We all nodded at each other in agreement, with Tony deciding to stick around. "Patch 'em through, Joker," I said.

"_Alright, setting up the link now."_

The conference table and chairs began to sink into the floor. As they disappeared from sight, the tabletop lit up, thus revealing itself to be a holographic displayer. The images of the Councilers, the Alliance ambassadors, and Anderson then appeared in front of us. Even from across the galaxy, the image was clear enough to see Udina had been tearing his hair out trying to deal with the whole Stark situation. I chuckled at the thought.

"_Commanders Shepard, Michael,"_ Tevos said. _"I understand that the mission was a success. And that you have gained some new crewmembers."_

"_I trust you are taking all the necessary precautions in keeping Dr. T'Soni on board?"_ Valern asked.

"Don't worry," I said. "She's not a threat to us. To Saren, maybe. Could be why he tried to have her killed."

Tevos looked genuinely shocked at the news. _"Benezia would __**never **__let Saren try to kill her daughter,"_ she said slightly disturbed. _"Maybe…maybe she didn't know about it?"_

"_Or maybe we don't know __**her**__,"_ Sparatus said. _"We never expected that she would turn traitor."_

"Third option," Tony said as he walked up into the Councilor's view. "She did know, but she couldn't do anything to stop it. And there's also a fourth option. She could've either been forced into helping him, or she was brainwashed."

"My money's on brainwashed," I said.

"_That reminds me,"_ Udina said, sounding rather upset. _"Why the hell were you on Therum, Stark, at the time our first SPECTREs were there on a mission?"_

"Simple," he said with a deadpanned expression. "After I heard about Michael becoming a SPECTRE, I hacked Alliance communication channels in order to find out where he was going next. That way, my friends and I would be able to meet up with him there."

The way he had said it, so matter-of-factly, made Natasha, Steve, and I break out in large grins. Udina, however, looked like he was going to have a heart attack. _"Stark, do you realize that doing that could get you locked away for a __**long**__ time in an Alliance prison?!"_

"Hey!" Natasha said defensively. "If Stark hadn't shown up when they did, our mission would have ended in failure, and Liara would either have been Saren's prisoner or another casualty! So do us all a favor and **CAN IT, ASSHOLE!**"

Udina looked simply flabbergasted. Everyone else was simply glad that someone shut him up, even the Councilors. "Word of advice," Steve said to Udina. "Just let her win. You'll have less headaches as a result."

Udina moved to talk, but Natasha's death glare cut him off, forcing him to simply grumble his displeasure. _"Still," _Anderson said, _"what are you going to do now, Tony?"_

"Simple," Tony said with a wave of his hand, "I'm joining the _Normandy _team. I'll be helping out with both all technical matters-including this ship's kick-ass drive core-and I'll be assisting our three SPECTREs on ground missions. Same goes for John and-"

"_By John,"_ Raan interrupted, _"are you talking about John-117, the Master Chief?"_

"He prefers to be called John off the field, ambassador Raan," I said.

That really got Udina to turn bright red. _"So, not only will the Shepards and Michael be risking the life of the Alliance's top scientist,"_ Udina grinded out, _"but also the life of one of our best soldiers?"_

"Pretty much," Tony said matter-of-factly. "I'm also going to be the _Normandy's_ official benefactor."

Before Udina could go into another rant, Valern decided to step in. _"Well, once again, we're glad that the mission was a success."_

Sparatus scoffed. _"Yes, a complete success. Apart from the complete destruction of a Prothean ruin. Was that really necessary?"_

"That wasn't our fault!" Steve said defensively. "Someone shot a military-grade _Quaker_ device into those ruins! **That's** what destroyed them!"

Tevos stepped back a bit in shock. _"A __**Quaker**__?!" _she said, her voice giving a hint of her being slightly disturbed. _"You're absolutely sure that's what it was?"_

"Liara knew what it was the moment she saw it," Steve said. "I doubt she would make something like that up."

Tevos looked slightly worried. _"How did Saren get his hands on a Quaker? Not even Benezia had clearance to access those."_

Tony stepped in again. "It wasn't Saren," he said. "It was a group called the Dark Hand."

"_The Dark Hand?"_ everyone asked.

"Long story," Tony said, "and I'm not really ready to talk about it twice in one day. Next time we meet, I'll tell you all I know."

The Council and ambassadors looked at each other, then simply nodded. _"Very well,"_ Tevos said. _"Until your next report, then."_ With that, their images disappeared.

Steve and Natasha sighed tiredly. "I know," Tony said. "I hate dealing with politics too."

"Ditto," I said.

* * *

_John's POV:_

* * *

This was an impressive ship, no two ways about it. It's nowhere **near** as awe-inspiring as the _Forward Unto Dawn_, or any other UNSC ship, but it was powerful in it's own right. It was small, fast, and it had a loyal crew. I could tell that from the moment I stepped on this ship, I was going to be in good hands.

However, there were some things I wasn't going to get used to right away. For example, having to sleep on an actual bed instead of a cryo pod (especially since the other ones can't fit me). I would also have to get used to working with aliens again (especially so many different kinds. At least they're all friendly, and not religiously fanatic like the Covenant).

But most of all, I was going to be fighting battles without **her**.

The empty feeling came back. _Keep it together, soldier. Cortana wouldn't want you falling apart because of her._

Still, it was always hard knowing that she was gone. It hurt more than when Johnson was slain in front of my eyes. Hell, it hurt even more than when Sam died. It was as if a piece of my soul was ripped out as she disappeared into oblivion. Another friend who gave their life to protect mine. But Cortana was more than just my friend. She was my partner, the one person who knew me better than anyone. And I couldn't save her.

"_Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep."_

Her words haunted me every time I went to sleep. I promised I would save her, and I failed. I told her that when I made a promise, I kept it. But I couldn't keep my promise. I couldn't save her.

And yet, she was okay with it, dying to save me. In fact, I think she was even happy, giving her life to save mine. But never again. I vowed after that day that no one else would die to save me. If need be, I will sacrifice myself to save my new team. Michael, Tony, Garrus, Anna, Rika, and the rest of the _Normandy_ team. I won't let anyone else sacrifice themselves.

"You okay, Chief?"

I turned my attention to the voice's direction, and found myself staring down at Rika and one of Natasha's teammates, Ashley. From what Michael told me, she was a survivor of Eden Prime, as well as the granddaughter of General Williams. I'm still surprised that after what happened to her grandfather, she would choose to serve on a ship with aliens, especially Garrus. Still, she was a good soldier, loyal to a fault, and tough as nails. Something told me she was going to be fun to work with.

And Rika. She's still the same anti-gun cop she was when she, Garrus, and Michael found me at that facility. She carried an aura of peacefulness around herself, yet that hid the ferociousness beneath. A ferociousness I witnessed firsthand when the three of them rescued the other survivors and I from the Facility. I never thought blades could be so deadly against robots, but she proved me wrong that day. I'm glad she's here. It's always nice to have familiar faces around.

"So," Ashley said, a bit intimidated by my appearance, "you gonna just stand there all day, or are you actually going to do say something?" She also seemed to be as much of a smart ass as Cortana. Yeah, she'd definitely be interesting to work with.

"Actually," I said, "I was just lost in thought, Gunny."

She chuckled. "Sorry, just wondering if you're alright, that's all."

"Don't worry about John," Rika said while patting my back. "This guy can take care of himself."

Ashley shrugged and said "Okay, but you need a place to put your armor until we can get you your own locker. As it is, all the other ones are currently occupied."

"I'll brought my own armor locker, as well as a locker for my weapons," I said plainly.

Rika and Ashley were both surprised by this information. "You have your own locker?" Rika asked.

I nodded. "I brought it here from the ship Stark used to bring the three of us to Therum. Rogue and Stark brought theirs as well."

"Well, damn," Ashley said with a smirk and a whistle, "you guys thought of everything."

"_We do our best, ma'am."_

"Who said that?" Rika asked while looking around.

I sighed. "That would be J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark's personal A.I., hacking into my Omni-tool again. Which I asked him to not do, if memory serves."

A holographic eye appeared on my Omni-tool. _"I'm sorry, sir,"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. said, _"but this seemed to be the best way to introduce myself to the others while mister Stark is occupied."_

"Occupied?" I asked. "He should be out of the meeting by now. What could possibly keep him occupied?"

* * *

_Tony's POV_

* * *

"So for centuries, it was believed that starship stealth was impossible to achieve," Adams explained, "because heat generated by shipboard operations was easily detectable in the absolute zero temperatures of space."

"So in order to counter this," I said, "you would need a way to hold in the heat emissions so you can go undetected."

"Which led to installing lithium heat sinks deep within the _Normandy's_ hull. This IES can allow us to travel across star systems undetected. However, we have to vent the heat every few hours during flight, or else we'd all be cooked alive."

"Though I bet it still has a few flaws. Like being able to be spotted from visuals."

"True, but nowadays people rarely look out a window to look for a ship, they just rely on scanners to find what they're looking for. However, the IES blue shifts the ship's heat emissions beyond our capacity to store them if we use it during FTL travel."

A second passes. I smile and said "It's nice to meet someone on this ship who speaks English."

From his spot at the table, Michael mumbled "Is that what that was?"

Tali walked up to us and put down her tray of food. She's lucky this ship had dextro-food, otherwise she would've starved. "Engineer Adams, this ship is amazing!" she said gleefully. "I had no idea the Alliance's ships were so advanced!"

"Actually," I said, "this ship's a prototype, fitted with cutting edge technology." I leaned back, put my hands behind my head, and placed my feet on the table. "I should know, seeing as I helped make it."

Her eyes widened behind her visor, and Michael's jaw dropped to match her shock. "You helped make the _Normandy_?!" they both said in surprise.

"Yeah," Adams said with a smile. "In fact, this guy helped equip the ship with his company's top of the line shielding technology. Mixed in with some turian tech, of course."

"Got to hand it to the birds," I said with a smirk, "they know how to build a ship."

"I think I'm starting to realize why the Alliance is so powerful," Tali said in awe, "especially if we're capable of making ships this small with drive cores so large."

Michael looked to her and said with a chuckle "What are you, a ship otaku?"

She brought her hands up defensively. "NO!" she cried out. "Nonononono…well, maybe." She slightly chuckled and said "I guess some quarian traits are hard to let go of, especially when we now have planets we can call home like Earth, Eden Prime, and Terra Nova…though for now, I guess Eden Prime is out of the question at the moment."

Michael placed his hand on hers. "Don't worry," he said reassuringly. "They'll be back on their feet in no time. And by the time they do, Saren will have answered for his crimes."

Tali's head shifted in a way that I could tell meant she was happy. "I know," she said. "But it's nice to hear that."

I decided to lighten the mood a bit. "So," I said with a grin, "would you mind telling me about quarian culture?"

She seemed to light up at that. "Well, for starters, quarians are a very closely-knit society. It comes from having lived on ships for centuries. As a result, we tend to think of each other as a bit of a family. And because of that, we usually act with the interest of others in mind. A single action affects our entire race as a whole."

"Why were ya livin' on ships for centuries?" Rogue asked as she took a seat right next to Michael. From the way Tali tensed up, I could tell she was a bit jealous. _Looks like __**someone's**__ popular with the ladies,_ I thought as I forced back a grin. I also couldn't help but feel there would be a rivalry brewing between the two women, but I decided to **not** warn Michael. More fun to let him figure it out on his own.

"The reason," Tali said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "is because of the geth. They tried to kill us, and forced us off our own planet."

Rogue looked surprised by this. "Wait, why'd the geth try to kill your people?"

Ta;I sighed. "About 300 years ago, the quarians weren't known as pariahs of the galaxy before allying with humanity. We once lived on Rannoch, our home planet, and many colony worlds. We had an embassy on the Citadel, and were well on our way to gaining a seat on the Council." She hung her head, her shoulders slouched in a way to indicate shame. "And then we created the geth."

"Your people created the geth?!" We turned to the source of the voice, finding John towering over us. The sudden and stealthy appearance of the SPARTAN was enough to send a few of us jumping from our seats. He realized his unintentional mistake, and apologized.

"It's fine," Adams said kindly, "just try to make noise next time."

John nodded. "Noted. Now, why did the quarians make the geth?"

"Originally, they were created to assist quarians with jobs they couldn't handle, or with simple work like farming," Tali explained. "When we created them, we saw them as a boon for our people. Until some bosh'tet got the bright idea to try increasing their intelligence, in order to make them able to do more complex work."

"You were doing A.I. testing," I said. "Last time I checked, the Council was against that sort of thing."

Tali put her ands up defensively. "It wasn't true A.I. research, Mr. Stark. We were only increasing their intelligence enough so that they could carry out more work, all while staying below self-awareness. Unfortunately, we underestimated their neural network."

"Their what?" Michael said.

"It's what makes them so efficient," Tali said. "Alone, a geth unit barely has any intelligence. Place it near ten geth units, and their intelligence increases as a result."

"So they're like a hive mind?" Adams asked.

"It's more complicated than that," Tali responded, "but I suppose it is an apt comparison. The neural network allowed geth to share data with each other simultaneously, allowing them to better tackle a job efficiently. Unfortunately, this system helped facilitate our exile.

"After our experiments, the geth had indeed become a better workforce. However, their neural network helped to increase that intelligence even more. Eventually, a geth unit asked it's master a question only a sentient being would ask. It asked if it had a soul."

"_May I inquire what is so disturbing about that question, Miss Zorah?"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. asked from my Omni-tool.

Tali recoiled at my trusty friend's appearance, but calmed down enough to continue (although I could tell she was a bit off put by the fact that J.A.R.V.I.S. was here at all, and that she was keeping an eye on him). "The problem," she answered nervously, "is that they were becoming sentient. And while something like a V.I. is content with manual labor, a sentient being will eventually want to become more than simple workers. They would become fully aware, and would rebel against us in an attempt to free themselves from us. We decided to take the pre-emptive shot and try to shut them all down."

I stared at her for a few seconds, absorbing what she said. I then shook my head. "You really fucked up."

Her head shot up in response to my comment, as well as the heads of everyone else at that table. "What?" she said.

"Let me put it in a way you can understand," I continued. "You guys brought it on yourselves. Attacking the geth when they wanted to understand themselves, especially when they were becoming more lifelike, put you guys in the wrong."

I could feel her angry gaze burrowing into me from across the table. "You can't be serious!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in anger. "If we hadn't acted first, we would've surely been killed off when they attacked!"

"But what if they didn't want to attack you?" I asked as I started to get annoyed. "What if your pre-emptive strike forced the geth into attacking you?"

"That's ridiculous!" she yelled. "As soon as they began showing self awareness, they would've eventually rebelled, not wanting to simply do menial labor!"

"You don't know that," I said.

"I do! They're nothing but machines, incapable of being reasoned with! They're not even ali-"

I slammed my fist on the table, shocking her into silence. It took all my willpower to **not** throw her across the room. "Even A.I.s can feel," I said coldly. "If you don't believe that, then the quarians deserved to lose their planet."

I got up and headed to the elevator, leaving everyone there stunned in silence. As the slow moving compartment moved down, J.A.R.V.I.S. popped up and said _"You didn't have to do that, Tony."_

I sighed. "No, J.A.R.V.I.S., I did. I can't stand it when someone says that people like you aren't alive."

"_It doesn't bother me as much as it used to,"_ he said matter-of-factly. _"But I'm glad you still stand up for us, Tony."_

I smiled. "Hey, what are friends for?"

* * *

_Liara's POV:_

* * *

I could hear the yelling from all the way back here. It is times like these that I'm glad I do not hang around with others very often. I would have really hated to have been in the middle of that argument. "Doctor," I called out, "what exactly are they talking about?"

Doctor Chakwas opened the door and poked her head in. "Oh Tali and Stark were talking about whether or not it was right to attack the geth when they started becoming sentient," she said as if she were stating the weather. "As if they even need to. Synthetics aren't really alive, so I would have to side with Tali. Though if I know Greg, he'll probably side with Tony."

Right after she said that, Tali raised her voice enough so that I could almost make out what she was saying. Chakwas smiled and said "It looks like Tony succeeded in pissing off Tali. I suppose I should've seen that coming."

That caught my attention. "I take it you are on friendly terms with Mr. Stark?" I asked politely.

She chuckled. "Know him? Hell, I've been taking care of him ever since he was saved from that hellhole." She frowned at that. "What Tony went through there…no living being should ever be subjected to."

I looked down in shame. "I am sorry," said. "I did not mean to make you think about that."

She smiled a warm smile. "It's alright, Liara," she answered. "Now, I would recommend getting some rest, seeing as you're still recovering from your time in that bubble of energy."

"Then I guess we chose the wrong time to come in here?"

I looked behind Dr. Chakwas to find Commander Natasha Shepard standing in the doorway, as well as a human male with dark skin and golden irises. I believe Natasha said his name was Malak. I got up and said "I do not mind. Please, come in."

They nodded and let themselves in, passing by Dr. Chakwas as she walked out. As I turned my attention to my new guests, I noticed that Malak was looking a bit tired. "Are you alright?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, just needed to get away from Joe for a bit. Allah knows a mortal can only take so much in one day before he snaps."

That piqued my interest. "Allah?" I asked inquisitively.

"On Earth," Natasha explained, "humans are different in many ways. One of our main differences is in religion. While many religions today believe in a single God, they all have different beliefs. One such example is the monotheistic religion Islam, one of the three biggest religions of humanity. They believe in Allah, which translates to God."

"Really?" I asked. Now that I think about it, I never really paid that much attention to human cultures and beliefs, due to my work with the Protheans. Now that I'm staying on an Alliance ship, I had better start learning, especially since one of my teammates is a believer in one of Earth's main religions. Well, I had better start maing up for lost time. "Um, out of simple curiosity, what do the believers of Islam think of this Allah?"

"We believe that Allah is a unique being," Malak answered, "independent and indivisible of all creation. He is a universal God, an absolute being who integrates all goodness and harbors no evil."

"I see," I said with interest. "That sounds a bit similar to siari, the mainstream religion of the asari. It states that the universe is a consciousness, that all life is a part of a greater whole, and that death brings one's spirit back into the consciousness of the universe."

Natasha looked at me in slight awe. "So do the asari believe in reincarnation?" she asked.

"No," Malak answered. "To them, it's more like they believe that the spiritual energy they released upon death will one day separate from the galactic consciousness, in order to once more return to physical form."

Now it was my turn to be in awe. I did not think that there would be a human on this ship that knew how siari worked. It was nice to know that I was not surrounded by xenophobes. Though I could not exactly say the same about the XO of this ship, Pressley. I do not think he likes other aliens on board, except for the quarian, Tali'Zorah. Though with all the two species have been through, I would not expect anything less.

_Wait, I am getting off topic._ Returning to the conversation, I asked "So what are your thoughts on death, mister…?"

"al-Maut," he answered. "But you can just call me Malak. And Islam believes in predestination, or divine destiny. Muslim faith dictates that Allah determines all actions, whether they are actions of good or evil. Nothing happens unless He allows it to happen.

"However, that does not mean he controls mankind," he continued. "He allowed us free will, thus allowing us to make our own choices. Destiny does not hold a cause-and-effect influence on humans, though. Our actions are always within His knowledge."

I sat in silence as I absorbed this information. To think that such faiths existed that believed in a scripted destiny, yet allowed its people free will. Truly, humans are a fascinating race. "That's fine and all," Natasha said, bringing me out of my musings, "but I prefer to make my own destiny. I just hate the idea that I'm following some life that's preordained by a being I can't even comprehend."

Malak nodded. "Understandable," he said. "A strong-willed person such as yourself would never accept such an idea. You will always try to make your own future."

"Damn straight," she said with a smile.

"So what religion do **you** believe in, Commander?" I asked.

She looked at me as if I had grown another appendage. "Huh?" she asked. "None."

"None?" Malak and I asked.

"Yep," Natasha said, "I'm an atheist."

Silence once again settled in the room. Although this time, it was an uncomfortable silence. "Asley's probably not going to like hearing that, Shepard," Malak said nervously.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"She's Catholic," he answered.

She lowered her head into her hands. "Fuck," she muttered.

"What is the matter with that?" I asked curiously.

"Well," Malak answered, "let's just say that Christians aren't to keen on the idea of someone not believing in a God of any kind. Especially their God."

"Oh," I said nervously. Suddenly, I feared what would ensue of the revelation of this knowledge to miss Williams. "Maybe she will understand?" I asked hopefully.

They chuckled a bit. "Good luck with that dream," Natasha said.

_Something's telling me this is going to be a long journey._

"Well," Malak said, "I think I'll go look for Joseph. Hopefully he won't force me to beat him with his own helmet." And with that, he left.

Now, Natasha and I were alone. I looked to her and saw something in her eyes. They were a kind of hunger. "So," she said as she locked the door behind her. She slowly began taking off her shirt, revealing a blue tank top beneath. "How about we get to…know each other better?" she asked with a smile that sent a shiver up my spine as I knew what was coming.

Before I could answer, she walked over to me and placed her lips on mine. Though the action shocked me, I found myself focusing on different things, such as the sensation of her kiss, the feeling of my fingers in her hair, and her hand as it snaked its way up my back to the zipper of my clothes.

_Something tells me I'm going to like it here._

* * *

_Rogue's POV:_

* * *

Well, that conversation sure went to Hell in a hand basket.

As soon as Stark had stormed off, Tali just sat there fuming. I figured that it was probably best if she was left alone for now, so I convinced Michael and Adams to leave the are to avoid becoming the target of her anger. Michael and I headed up to Deck 1, as we chose to hide in the comm room for the time being.

"So," I said with a smile, "how much ya wanna bet Stark and Tali now hate each other?"

Michael returned my smile. "Oh, I already know she hates Tony," he answered. "Making others hate him is his super power, remember?"

We shared a good laugh at that. Yeah, he definitely had a way with making others not like him. Some would say it's all accidental. Others say it's him being a complete ass hat. Stark, however, would call it "the ol' Stark charm." Aptly named, seeing as it works perfectly for him.

"So," Michael said as soon as he caught enough of his breath, "how's life been treating you while I was out?"

"Actually," I said, "life's been good to me. Ah spent some time on Earth with Stark an' John, livin' with quarians in mah home state of Mississippi. They gave me this enviro-suit, taught me about the history an' cultures of this universe, and taught me some tech skills." I looked to him and said "They're a really great race, Michael. And a tragic one, also."

He nodded with a slight frown. "Yeah," he said, "they lose their whole planet, and the Council labels them pariahs. What a bunch of assclowns."

I smiled. "That's one way to describe th' Council. Anotha would be arrogant. They've been in power for millennia. Durin' that time, they've come to think that their way's the right way. They think they're invincible, but they're just settin' themselves up for the fall."

"Eh," he said, "I think Tevos is starting to see things our way. Who knows, she might actually become a public supporter for the Alliance."

"If that ever happens," I said with a grin, "Ah might have to have that Wrex guy slap me to make sure ah'm not dreamin'."

"Be careful what you wish for," he said with a playful push.

Chuckling, I looked at him and went silent. He'd barely changed at all in the past year. He still held on to his 'no killing anyone' rule (except the geth, though he explained that destroying their bodies doesn't kill them, it just destroys their avatars. The geth programs just head back to their server, make new bodies, then joins the fight again. I guess that would make it easier for anyone against killing to shoot a geth). He was still a tad introverted around others, though not enough to make him reclusive. If anything, he liked hanging around with others, and could merely be content to listen to people (though he'd voice his opinion when necessary).

If anything, he only changed physically. He was now taller than me, though a foot or two shorter than Garrus. His hair had lengthened, reaching down to his shoulders. He also had a full beard, which made him look older than he really was. And his eyes. My God, his eyes were the same as ever. A warm, hazel gaze that hid a person as insecure about himself as me. Yet that gaze also held the look of someone who would lay down their life to save an innocent person. That right there is one of the reasons I like him.

But the biggest physical change was his left leg. It was replaced below the knee with a cybernetic leg (most likely due to that monster that attacked him and made him disappear). It tore me up, thinking that beast had not only maimed him so much that it nearly killed him, but tore off his leg, too. And I couldn't do anything to help him. I couldn't repay the debt I owed him for saving me.

"_There wasn't anything you could've done. If anything, you would've added to the body count. It doesn't matter now, though. You're here now, Anna. You can help him now. That's a good way to repay you're debt."_

_Heh. Good to hear you too, Hikari._

"Wait a minute," Michael said with a shocked look on his face, "how the blazes do you know Hikari?"

"_Huh,"_ the other worldly being said in surprise, _"it appears that anyone I come into contact with can hear my conversations with others. Interesting."_

"_You call it interesting,"_ Bronson's voice said, _"the rest of us call it creepy."_

"_On that, we can agree,"_ Malak thought.

"_Yep,"_ thought Tony.

…

…

"_Wait…__**HOW CAN WE ALL HEAR EACH OTHER'S THOUGHTS?!**__"_

"_Oh, it's not just you five,"_ Hikari said, _"John, Rika, and Django can hear us too."_

I sat there in shock. _"Really?" _I thought.

"_Yeah, we can hear you,"_ Rika thought nonchalantly. _"We just choose to not say anything."_

"_Mainly because we don't really have anything to say that's important," _John continued.

"Wait a minute," Michael said, "how in the galaxy can we do this? What's going on, Hikari?"

"_All will be revealed in time,"_ she answered calmly. _"In the meantime, make yourselves comfortable in this universe. Because you're gonna be here for a while. Oh, and watch out for Barry. Well, see ya!"_ And just like that, she was gone.

Silence once more ruled the room. Only this time, it was an uncomfortable silence. "Well," I said nervously, "this is unexpected."

Michael laughed a bit, though it was more of a nervous laugh. "Tell me about it."

"_Anyone want something to eat?"_ Bronson thought.

Lord, this was gonna be a long journey. Well, at least I can spend it with Michael. Now, if only we could find a way to keep Bronson quiet, then it would be paradise.

Steve walked into the comm room. "Oh, here you guys are," he said with a smile. He looked at us and said "So, what did I miss?"

* * *

**Well, the plot thickens! Why do these select people have the ability to communicate telepathically with each other? Will this unseen bond help strengthen the team or weaken it? Can John learn to live without his most faithful friend at his side? How will the relationship between Natasha and Liara evolve? Will Rogue act on her feelings for her savior? How will the tension between Tali and Tony play out in the future? And how many of these questions will be answered in the span of the next few chapters?**

**Well, I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can, but there's no promises. Until then, review and leave a comment, please.**

**BUT NO FLAMES!**


	13. The Incursion, Pt 1

**I'm back, baby! So let's do this!**

**Now, if this took too long to write, I'm sorry! But in my defense, my stupid charger wasn't working, so I could no longer write this chapter on my laptop due to it running out of energy. Sometimes, I think tech just hates me.**

**Anyway, this is going to be the first chapter in the story based on the Mass Effect assignment "Geth Incursion." Hope you like it.**

**Also, this arc will be focusing on Tali. What, did you expect the hero to have all the fun in this story?**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not own Mass Effect, Halo, X-Men, Iron Man, or anything related to them. As much as I would like to, I don't.**

* * *

**The Incursion, Pt. 1: Counterattack**

* * *

_Tali's POV_

* * *

It's been a few days since I officially labeled Tony Stark as a stupid, egotistical **bosh'tet**. To think that not only did say that my people attacking the geth was wrong, but that we brought our exile on ourselves! He obviously hasn't seen what cruelty the geth are capable of.

And the worst part? When I talked to Michael, he seemed like he agreed with Stark! Even though he said he didn't think the quarians brought our plight onto ourselves, he actually believed that the geth would be willing to co-exist with the quarians! That stupid bosh'tet! I got so angry with him that I haven't even spoken a word to him since.

Now, I think I might've been too harsh on him…okay, a lot of what I said, I'm sure I didn't mean. But in my defense, I tended to say things like that when I got mad. And then later on, I would start to regret it if I had said it to someone I trust. Like right now.

_Keelah, I can be such a bitch sometimes. There has to be a way to talk with him again and get past this._

As I began thinking of ways to start talking to Michael again, he sat down with me in the mess hall, along with Stark, Garrus, and Kaidan. _Well, this works too, I guess._ "Ummm…"

Michael nervously chuckled. "Uhhh…hey."

Even though he couldn't see, I smiled at him. "Hey."

He coughed and said "Look, about the other day-"

"No, I'm sorry," I said bringing my hands up. "Talking about the geth is a touchy subject for my people. So, I'm sorry if I said anything that-"

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay," I said in defeat, "I'm sorry for saying what I said to you."

"Yeah," he said, "and I'm sorry for making you mad. Tony is, also," he continued as he jabbed his thumb at Stark, who smiled sheepishly. "I should've remembered that you and the geth don't have the best past, so, I'm sorry for making you mad. It's just, I believe that all life, both synthetic **and** organic, are capable of living together. All it takes is a chance to try."

In a way, I can understand that. Humans have been able to live with quarians and A.I.s since the Contact War. From that background, it would make sense that he would believe that even the geth deserve a chance. "I understand," I said sympathetically. "I don't exactly agree with you, but I understand."

He smiled and said "So, are we friends again?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, we're friends again."

"Good," Stark said with a grin, "Garrus and I were afraid we were going to have to deal with the tension between you two for the rest of the mission."

"You, however, are still a bosh'tet," I said with a deadpanned tone.

He shrugged. "What else is new?"

Michael and I chuckled at that. "So," Michael said, "how've things been going?"

"Not so good," I answered wearily. "I…haven't been getting a lot of sleep."

Michael's face became concerned at that. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well, it's just that the _Normandy_ runs so quietly, it's like we're not eve moving. If anything, I guess it's the silence."

"You can't sleep because it's too quiet?" Garrus asked.

"That's right," I answered with a nod. "You see, I've lived on a ship my entire life. Keelah, I'm one of the fraction of quarians that still live on ships. And on a quarian vessel, the last thing you want to hear is silence. It means that an engine died, or a vital system is offline."

Michael nodded at that. "So, because you're so used to noise, you can't sleep without it. It's become like a necessary white noise for you."

I shrugged. "I suppose."

"Well, if you want," Stark said, "we can put some noisy fans in your room and leave them on. That way, you can have enough white noise to sleep with, and that means a well rested engineer who won't fall asleep on the job. That, in turn, will prevent us from experiencing an accident that will leave all of us dead."

Michael shook his head at that. "Tony, you're a good guy, but you can be such an asshole at the same time," he said with a deadpanned tone. "You know that, right?"

Stark answered with another shit eating grin. "It's the dual nature of my charm."

"How do people put up with you?" Garrus asked.

"Easy," he replied, "you just learn to live with it. Unless you don't, in which case you become a super villain who wants to kill me."

Confused at that statement, I tilted my head and asked "Super villain?"

Everyone there looked a bit confused at my question. At least, until Kaidan cleared things up. "I guess you don't read comic books?" he asked. I shook my head. "Well, neither have I, so I can't help you there. Maybe Stark or Michael could?"

Upon hearing that, Michael cleared his throat to begin explaining. "A super villain," Michael said, "is often a being with super powers like flight, super strength, control over the elements, all that jazz. They're like super heroes, except that they use their powers for personal gain, and they often don't care who they hurt or kill to get what they want. Super villains are pretty much the polar opposite of super heroes."

"Why would anyone do that?" I asked, a bit disturbed at this knowledge.

"More often than not," Stark said, "they let the power go to their heads. They believe that they can do anything with their powers, that they deserve what they want. And like Michael said, they'd be willing to kill to get what they want."

I gasped. "That's horrible," I said as I brought my hand up to my mouth…well, mouthpiece. "If these kind of people have powers, what's to stop these 'super heroes' from becoming like their enemies?"

Kaidan's face grew a bit dark at that. "Not a lot," he answered. "All it could take is a push in the right direction for a hero to fall. Because being evil is easy. The easiest thing in the galaxy. But to be a hero?" He chuckled a bit before he continued. "To always protect the people, to adhere to a moral code, to always do the right thing, even if it benefits others instead of yourself? That takes determination. Especially to do it every day, even if everyone is against you when you do it."

I looked at Stark in slight wonder. "Is that what you go through?" I asked.

Stark smiled slightly. "All the time," he answered.

It was right then that I believed I had begun to gain a new form of respect for Stark. In a way, he's kind of like a quarian. He always thought about the needs and welfare of others instead of himself. And he kept doing it, even if he would become hated by the very people he protected. But there's also another reason behind it. Something that drove him to do what he does. I could tell it's a sensitive subject, so I chose to leave it be for now.

"You know something, Stark?" I said after about a minute of silence. "I think I might be starting to like you again."

He smiled. "Thank you, miss Zorah nar Rayya."

"Please," I said, "just call me Tali."

He shrugged. "Okay, Tali."

After that, we began to talk some more about each other. Kaidan was apparently one of the few human biotics who used an L2 implant. From what I learned about them, the L2 implants tended to give a biotic some nasty side effects. These side effects ranged from headaches to crippling pain to insanity. Thankfully, Kaidan only got the headaches. I started to admire how he just sticks to the L2 implant, even though it hurt him to use it. He must have a strong spirit to keep it up.

Stark was an earthborn, the son of a genius inventor. Even from a young age, Stark showed he had a brilliant mind. When he was in charge of his father's company, he had created devices that helped people and devices that killed people. He only stopped making the latter after he saw that his weapons were being used to hurt the people they were meant to protect. Inspired by someone who saved his life, he swore to protect the world from destroying itself, and became the Iron Man to do just that. Though the armor had weapon capabilities, Stark insisted on his belief that the suit is not a weapon, but a full body prosthesis capable of self-defense. I, however, believe it is one of the modern marvels of engineering. Now if only Stark will let me study it.

Garrus was like most turians. He was born on Palaven, the turian homeworld. His father, a turian named Tyvern Vakarian, was a former C-Sec officer, and a decorated war hero. After Garrus completed his military training, he chose to follow in his father's footsteps and became a C-Sec officer as well. However, he hated having to work with the restrictions, regulations, and red tape. In fact, he felt that they were only there to keep him from doing his job. Especially when he and Rika were investigating Saren.

Apparently, the main reason Garrus was so eager to investigate and bring down Saren was because he felt the bosh'tet was a disgrace to all turians (something I can agree with). He went on to say that he looked forward to working with SPECTREs, as they don't have to worry about that sort of thing. From the look on Michael's face, he didn't like the way Garrus thought about that. In fact, I think he said something about how it was important to know that just because you **can** break the law as a SPECTRE, doesn't mean that you **should**.

At that point, we heard the crackle of the intercom turning on. _"All ground team members, report to the comm room,"_ Steve Shepard said. _"We've got a new mission on our plates for those who want it."_

Michael sighed. "Well," he said with a smile, "duty calls."

* * *

After we all sat down in our seats, Natasha brought up the Galaxy Map in the center of the table. "Alright people, listen up. Based on what Urdnot Grell told us, as well as Michael's suggestions," she said giving a knowing nod at Michael, "we have discovered a geth incursion here, in the Armstrong Cluster." As she said this, the map zoomed in on the cluster in question. The cluster had five systems in it, and four of them were blinking.

"I take it those are where the geth are stationed?" I asked.

"Correct," Steve said with a nod. "These four systems have a single geth outpost in each one," he continued pointing at each system. "We have reason to believe that one of these outposts is acting as their Forward Operating Base. We take it down, along with the other outposts, and we can stop the incursion before it can gain momentum."

Rogue raised her hand. "Do we know which base is the main one?" she asked.

Natasha sighed at that. "No. Unfortunately, we can't hack their communications. That means we have no way of knowing where the FOB is located."

"Or how much resistance we can expect to encounter," Michael said with slight annoyance in his tone.

"So," Django said lazily, "the plan is to simply hit every base, wipe it out, and hope we take the main base down along the way? Along with having to deal with who knows how many geth at each one?"

The three SPECTREs looked at each other, then shrugged. "Pretty much," they said in unison.

Silence filled the room for a few seconds. "Fuck it," Django said as he took a sip of some scotch. "I'm game."

Steve nodded. "Okay, everyone, we've got a few hours before we get there. Until then, ready your weapons, check your systems, and relax a bit. A soldier's useless in the field if they don't rest as well as fight."

With that, we retreated back to our stations. Michael set up his gear, had Ashley triple check everything, and decided to help out in engineering. "If I'm going to be on this ship," he said as he asked Engineer Adams for a temporary position here, "then I'm going to have to pull my own weight around here." Adams and Stark were both happy to get an extra set of hands to help out. I was busy thanking the ancestors for giving me this opportunity to talk to him more.

_Keelah, I don't know what it is about that guy, but I can't seem to focus much on anything when he's around. Seriously, why can't I stop staring at him whenever I get the chance? Why does my heart seem to skip a few beats when he looks right at me. And why's my face feeling warm whenever I think about him too much? I really hope this isn't some kind of sickness. But if it is, then I really don't want to get better._

"TALI!"

Adam's screaming brought me out of my thoughts. As I looked up, I saw that I was simply checking the same system. Over and over. For ten minutes. _Oh, Keelah._ "S-Sorry. I, uh, I had a lot on my mind. You know, with the, um geth incursion, and all."

He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. "Hey, it's alright. We're going to stop those flashlights before they can even get a fleet into the system."

I smiled in return and nodded. Even though I had lied about what was **really** on my mind, I couldn't help but think about how the mission. I mean, I haven't really fought against a geth before, let alone a whole squadron of them. The only time I ever managed to actually get up close to a geth was when I got the audio log that condemned that bosh'tet Saren. But my people knew more about the geth than anyone else, so that had to give us an advantage. And between myself and (I couldn't believe I thought this) Stark, we should be able to push them out no problem. Hell, maybe there was actually a worthy Pilgrimage gift to be found on this mission.

* * *

"What is the Pilgrimage, anyway?" Michael asked.

We were in the cargo hold along with Ashley, Garrus, and John. Wrex and Django were in their rooms modifying their weapons for when they would get a chance to fight. Michael and I were here because Adams kicked us out for a while. Apparently, Michael wasn't that good with running the drive core…okay, he completely sucked with working on tech. Based on how badly Michael was working in there, Adams felt that Michael would be better suited helping out Ashley with maintaining weapons (something he proved to be surprisingly good at, even to himself).

Adams also said he felt that I was running my self too ragged, especially when Michael was around. So until further notice, I'm on break. During that time, I decided to talk with the others about quarian culture. Which, of course, eventually led to the Pilgrimage.

"Originally," I said with a bit of pride, "the Pilgrimage was a rite of passage to earn your place among the flotilla. When a quarian became of age, we would get sent out, and would spend months, even years traveling the galaxy. We would only return to the fleet when we brought back something to show our worth, a Pilgrimage gift."

"What kind of gift?" Ashley asked. I could tell she was genuinely interested in this, as well as Garrus. John, however, was a bit difficult to read. Though I assumed he was just as interested as the others.

"Well," I began, "it would have to be something of value. For example, a gift could be vital technology, food and/or fuel, or even a new starship to add to the Flotilla. Another useful Pilgrimage gift could be useful data, which could help make life easier for others living on the Flotilla."

"What happens after you find a good gift for your Pilgrimage?" Garrus asked.

I allowed myself to feel some pride and happiness in knowing that there were actually people her (apart from humans) that truly cared about quarian culture and traditions. I then went on to say "At that point, a quarian would present the gift to the captain of the ship they want to join. The captain will accept the gift, and that quarian will change the 'nar' in their name to 'vas,' which proves we are full-fledged adults in quarian society."

"But what if the gift isn't adequate enough?" John asked curiously. "Does the captain just reject the gift?"

"No, not really," I explained. "The gift is usually accepted by the captain, even if it isn't particularly valuable. It's mostly done out of a sense of tradition. However, there's a stigma to quarians who present a sub-standard Pilgrimage gift, like a derelict ship. Those quarians are usually treated disdainfully."

"Yeah," Ashley said with some humor in her voice. "I'd bet that wouldn't be the best way to make a first impression to one's future crewmates."

I chuckled at that. "That's one way of putting it. Still, it helps to show that a quarian has reached adulthood. But presenting a sub-standard gift would be a really bad idea, especially for me. You see, I'm the daughter of Rael'Zorah vas Alarai."

"Who's that?" John asked.

Ashley looked at him incredulously. "You're kidding, right?" she asked. "Rael'Zorah is an admiral of the Migrant Fleet. There are five admirals in all, and they're pretty much the leaders of the quarian people. That pretty much makes Tali-"

"A princess?" Michael asked.

I sighed. "No, I'm not. Though I did receive quite a bit of special treatment growing up." I shook my head a bit, as I noticed we were in danger of going off topic. "But as the daughter of an admiral, I absolutely cannot return with a sub-standard gift. It would reflect badly both on myself, and my father."

Ashley and Garrus nodded at that. "Yeah, I can understand that," Garrus said. "You want to find something to make your old man proud. Just be careful it doesn't cost you, or him, though."

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," I said reassuringly. "Among the rules of searching for a Pilgrimage gift, there is one that is absolute: the gift cannot be gained through the harm of another, be it quarian or otherwise."

Michael nodded. "Makes sense," he said. "If all gifts were attained through force and harm, the quarians would be no better than the batarians."

I shuddered at that. In no way did I ever want my people to be compared to those bosh'tets. Especially not after…_no, don't think about that, girl. That's the __**last**__ thing you should be thinking about._ "We also are taught two code phrases to speak for when we return to the Fleet," I said in an attempt to move away from the subject. "One of the phrases means we have achieved a successful mission, and we are welcomed back with open arms."

"And the other?" Michael asked intently.

I sighed. "The second code phrase means we are returning under duress, most likely someone trying to sneak onto the Flotilla to harm us. At which point, the rest of the Fleet opens fire and destroys the ship returning."

"Damn," Ashley said as she turned a bit pale at that. "You guys don't fuck around when it comes to each other."

"No," I said grimly. "We don't."

After a few seconds of silence, Michael asked "What became of the Pilgrimage after the quarians settled down with the human race?"

"Well," I answered, "most of my people decided to live in human society. Because of that, the Pilgrimage now allows quarians to prove their worthiness through civic service. That means that they work at a job for a number of years, or join the Alliance military until they have proven they can be working members of society."

John and Ashley nodded at that. "Yeah, I worked alongside some quarians in basic training," Ashley said with a smile. "Trust me, you do **not** want to mess with them in a fight. They're crafty little guys."

That earned a few chuckles from everyone gathered. "I take it, though, there are still some quarians who go through the original Pilgrimage?" John asked.

I nodded. "Yes. Mainly those quarians are the ones who live on the Flotilla. However, there are still some earthbound quarians who go onto the original Pilgrimage, out of a sense of tradition."

The others nodded in understanding. "Now **that's** commitment," Michael said.

At that point, Steve Shepard walked up to us, with the rest of the team right behind him. "Alright," he said as he clapped his hands, "here's the game plan, people. I'm taking a squad of six with me to the first of the four geth outposts. Tali, Malak, Rogue, Kaidan, Garrus, you five are coming down with me. Joker's going to drop us off a few clicks from the area the Danger Zone is located in."

That got quite a few of us tilting and scratching our heads in confusion. "I'm talking about the immediate area the mission takes place in," Steve explained. "A place that, on missions, I like to call the 'Danger Zone.'"

After a few seconds of silence, Michael brought his left hand up to his face and shook his head in shame. "You **can't** be serious," he said in a tone that said _Idiot_.

Steve smiled and said "What? It's not my fault I like the song." That just earned him a bunch of groans from those who seemed to get what he was saying. I would have to ask him what he was talking about after the mission.

"Alright, everyone," Kaidan said, "let's get to it! The sooner we get this planet done, the sooner we can get on to the next one." Following that, we prepared our weapons for the mission, in case we needed to fight on foot. Garrus only took his Mantis sniper rifle and a Vindicator battle rifle; Rogue armed herself with a Lancer assault rifle, a Predator heavy pistol, and one of Django's weapons, an experimental SMG called the N7 Hurricane; Steve armed himself with N7 weapons, which included a Valkyrie assault rifle, a Crusader shotgun, an Eagle heavy pistol, and a Valiant sniper rifle; Malak already had his scythe at hand, so he was good to go; and as for me, I simply packed my Scimitar shotgun and a Carnifex heavy pistol.

"And remember," Steve said, "on missions, we refer to each other by codenames." With a nod from all of us, we all continued to ready ourselves for the mission.

* * *

After getting suited up and armed to the teeth, I decided to see which planet we were going to first. Apparently, our first stop was Maji, a desert-like planet in the Vamshi system. We headed for the _Mako_ for a quick drop, but not before I heard Michael whisper his hopes that Steve wasn't as bad a driver as Natasha, or even worse than her. Somehow, his wish didn't make me feel any better.

The _Normandy_ soon lurched forward, giving us the angle we needed to launch out of the ship and onto the ground below. As soon as we came to a complete stop, I allowed myself to look at the planet. With its suns red and blue, hovering over us like the Frazhiil, the lights of the Damned. I'll admit, the sight made me feel a little uneasy. _The sooner we get rid of these geth, the better._

After a few minutes of checking the systems (which included making sure the guns were online and we weren't suffering from any structural damage), we started to explore the immediate area. Along the way, we found a crashed satellite to salvage; some materials to mine; debris originating from a turian colony; and an odd skull, as big as my body, lying in a hole. I shuddered as I thought about what kind of creature that skull belonged to. I prayed to the ancestors that I never found out.

As we headed back to the _Mako_, a projectile zoomed over the vehicle, landing and exploding a few feet away from us. We didn't wait for another round to fire before we zoomed away from the area. "Where the Hell did that come from?!" yelled Rogue.

"Sensors show the heat trail are coming from those mountains on our right!" I exclaimed. As if to punctuate my statement, another rocket landed near us, followed by two more in succession. We were already moving by the time a fifth rocket was launched.

As we headed toward the nearest mountain range, believing that was where the geth outpost was, I noticed some shapes in the distance that looked oddly quarian in design, but not quite. Upon a closer look, I saw that those were geth Heavy Turrets. As we neared the range, something set our alarms off. "Sir!" cried out Malak. "We've got more missiles inbound, and they're locked onto us!" _Well, I guess the geth __**are**__ in the mountains after all._

Steve suddenly started pressing switches and pulled a few levers as soon as Malak finished. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he yelled "Hold onto something!" A second later, we lurched as we seemed to be propelled upward. It was then that I remembered that the _Mako_ had a short range rocket booster. That little trick seemed to save us from a good thrashing, as the rockets impacted and exploded right beneath us. A few seconds later, the _Mako_ hit the ground with a _THUD_, causing everyone inside to shake about from the rough landing.

I quickly looked at the readout on our structure. "That explosion weakened a few of our wheels!" I cried out. "If they take another hit like that, or worse, we'll be as good as dead!"

"Got it!" Steve said as he headed toward us. "Sharp shot, take the cannon! See if you can take those turrets down!" As Garrus got seated, Steve continued "Azrael! Give us some Barriers! We need as much protection as we can get here!" The scythe wielding human nodded in response, and started glowing blue. A look outside showed that he had erected a blue Barrier around us, though not around the cannon. This allowed our former C-Sec officer to fire without hurting ourselves (and our vehicle) in the process.

After a few shots, Garrus managed to take down the first turret. This gave us enough of a gap to make a charge for the mountain. Unfortunately, our Barrier was preventing us from moving fast enough, meaning we kept getting hit every know and again. After the fifth hit, I yelled "How long do we have to keep this Barrier up, Commander?!"

Malak grunted as another blast hit us. "Yeah, I'm agreeing with Savant, sir," he said with effort. Keelah, his face was practically soaked with sweat. Maintaining his biotics on something this big for this long must be harder than it looks. "Unless Allah himself decides to lend me a hand with this," he continued, "I won't be able to maintain this for much longer."

Rogue went up to the struggling biotic and ungloved her hand. "Take five, sugah." With that, she touched his face and caused his eyes to widen in shock. Rogue moaned in slight pain, then cried in agony as she fell back, causing Malak to slump down in exhaustion. Unfortunately, this caused our Barrier to disappear.

"Azrael!" Steve cried as he looked back. "What the hell is going on back there?!" Silence greeted him. "Azrael?!"

At that, Rogue shakily stood up and glowed blue. She raised her hands, and another Barrier sprung into existence. Good timing, too, as a rocket was seconds away from impacting with us. "Alright," Steve said with relief, "don't do that again, Azrael."

"Um, sir?" I said with uncertainty, "Rogue's the one using the Barrier."

Everyone looked to Rogue, who was still holding up the Barrier (though she now seemed to be shaking from strain). "Figured Ah'd take th' load offa him fer now," she said shakily. "So could yah please keep drivin' now?"

With that, Steve continued his drive to the mountain, rockets continuing to pellet us. As the third rocket hit, I noticed the Barrier flicker a bit before returning to normal. "Is that supposed to happen?" Kaidan asked nervously. Obviously he had seen it too.

"Sorry," Rogue said with difficulty. The Barrier was flickering more and more, even more so as another rocket hit us. "Ah…can't…keep…this…up…much…longer…"

Suddenly, the Barrier seemed to regain its strength. Everyone looked back to see Malak was back on his feet, biotics blazing blue as Rogue dropped to the floor in exhaustion. "Good work, rookie," Malak said approvingly. "I'll take it from here, though."

For the next five minutes, we continued to inch closer and closer to the mountain, noticing that the blasts were increasing in frequency. A detail that Malak noticed all too well. "Sorry, guys," he said as he breathed heavily, "but I can't keep this up anymore."

Steve cursed under his breath. "Alright," he said, "drop the Barrier, Azrael. We'll take our chances with the armor." Malak breathed a sigh of relief as he dropped the Barrier, finally getting a chance to relax. Unfortunately for him, he was forced to move about as the _Mako _charged forward, which caused him to groan in discomfort.

Garrus wasted no time in returning fire at the turrets, managing to take down the second one after two shots from our cannon combined with continuous fire from the machine guns. At that point, we finally managed to reach safety under the cliffs of the mountain, giving us ample time to catch our breath (especially Malak).

After a few minutes, I began checking the _Mako_ to see if anything was damaged by the turrets. Surprisingly, the only noticeable damage was to a section of our armor, nothing a bit of Omni-gel couldn't fix. "We should be good to go in about five minutes," I said as I started applying the Omni-gel. As the miracle substance started to do it's work, everyone went back to their positions.

"Okay," Steve said as he got behind the wheel, "as soon as the Omni-gel finishes up, we're going to make a run up the path leading to the outpost. Sharp shot, you get to use the main gun." The turian C-Sec agent's mandibles flared into a grin at that. "Elvis, keep an eye on our radar. I don't want to run into any more surprises on our way up." The human Sentinel nodded, buckling up for the ride ahead. "Rogue, can you put up another barrier?"

The enviro-suit-clad woman shook her head wearily. "No can do, Straight Arrow. Ah'd need to be in contact with Azrael some more, and if Ah do that, he'd have ta spend the rest of th' mission restin'." She slumped into her seat. "Besides, Ah'm still tired from holdin' up that Barrier."

He sighed. "In that case, rest up and get ready to head outside and crack some synthetic skulls. Your ability to fly and your super strength are an advantage we have over the geth. One that I plan to exploit." Rogue nodded, and buckled herself down, as well. "Azrael, you're our backup. If things start going south, you're taking Rogue's place outside while she gets back into the _Mako_." Malak nodded, and proceeded to rest some more.

A beep from my Omni-tool told me we were ready. I buckled myself down and said "We're good to go!"

With a feral grin, Steve started up the engine and cried out **"BORN TO BE WIIIIIIIILLLD!"**

The _Mako _lurched forward, sending Malak sprawling across the floor again (he forgot to buckle up). We made our way up the hill, not encountering any geth turrets for now. This gave Malak the chance to crawl back into his seat, wearily reaching for his seatbelt. Before he could buckle up, a rocket exploded in front of us, shaking Malak out of his seat again. _"Whhyyyyyyyy?"_ he moaned in pain as he slid across the floor.

Steve looked back at Kaidan and yelled "I thought I asked you to give us a heads up, Elvis!"

Kaidan shook his head. "Sorry, sir, but I didn't pick up anything! The damn thing must be out of range of our sensors!"

A shot emanated from our main gun, soon followed by the sound of machinery exploding. Garrus showed his face and said "Thankfully, it wasn't out of firing range."

That earned a chuckle from all of us. "What would we do without you?"

Garrus shrugged. "Elvis," the turian said, "maybe you should expand the range of the _Mako's _sensors. If an enemy can ambush us because of our limited sensor equipment, then it's time to trade up."

"Noted," Kaidan said with a smile. "I'll be sure to put in a requisition order."

"Or," Steve said, "you could let one of three certain SPECTREs get a new sensor system that are top of the line. That sound good, LT?"

Chucking, Kaidan replied "Yes, sir."

"Alright, then," Malak said groggily, "so before we keep on going, can I **please** have the chance to buckle up? So that I don't continue to be thrown about like a rag doll?"

Thankfully for Malak, Steve was generous enough to give him enough time to strap himself in before he started driving again. A good thing, too, as we received a rocket impact halfway up the pathway. A few well placed shots later, the turret was toast. The same could be said for the last two turrets. From then on in, it was smooth sailing to the outpost.

As soon as we reached level ground, Kaidan groaned in frustration. "Damn! Our radar's being jammed!"

"We must be close to the outpost," I said nervously. Dammit, even though I've got back up **and** a freaking _Mako_ on my side, I'm still scared about fighting geth.

"Okay, people," Steve said as he stood up, "we'll rest here for fifteen minutes. Take that time to get ready for bringing that outpost down to the scrap yard." We decided to take him up on that offer, with Garrus calibrating the main gun, Kaidan checking our weapons and equipment, and Malak just taking a nap. I, on the other hand, was wringing my hands nervously, not even sure what to do.

Rogue sensed my anxiety and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry," she said softly, "we'll be fine."

I tensed as soon as I realized her hand was on me, remembering what Malak looked like when Rogue touched him. She noticed this, and took her hand off. "Sorry," she said as she hung her head.

I realized I must have offended her, and quickly said "No, its fine. I'm, uh, I just thought about…um…"

"What I did ta Malak?" she finished.

I nodded. Rogue sighed and turned to me. "Yeah, I guess I shoulda warned y'all 'bout that. Y'see, Ah'm what's called a 'mutant,' a human born with special abilities. Each mutant is unique, as they have their own different power. Mah power…rather, mah curse…Ah'm able to absorb attributes from other people: strength, powers, personality, memories. All through simply skin contact."

I stared at her with widened eyes. "Keelah," I said breathlessly, "that's incredible!"

Rogue scoffed. "Yeah, right up 'til I hurt someone." I tilted my head, not understanding what she meant. "Mah touch," she continued, "it's deadly. Th' longer I touch someone, the more Ah take from 'em. Th' longer Ah hold on, th' more likely that person goes into a coma. Or worse."

The entire _Mako_ is silent. It's only then that I realized everyone else was listening. And they heard everything. "So, if you held onto me any longer…" Malak began.

Rogue nodded. "Th' more likely Ah coulda killed you. That's why Ah wear this suit around others. To protect them from mahself."

Steve place his hand on her shoulder, his face filled with pain from knowing her plight. "So you seal yourself of from others. Not even letting them get close to you." She nodded sadly. Sighing, Steve continued "I can't even imagine what that does to a person."

"Th' best part, though," Rogue continued, "is that mutants are human till they hit puberty. At that point, their powers come out. Ah was able ta touch people before Ah turned 15. From then on, though…" She purposefully trailed off, the memories obviously too much for her. Turning to Malak, she said "Sorry about that little surprise, Azzy."

Malak simply shrugged. "It's okay. Just warn someone before you do that again, okay?" Rogue nodded, and sat down next to me. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She knew what it was like to actually feel a person's skin against her own, to touch them with worrying about someone getting hurt. To have it all taken away from her, to be thrust into a life of physical solitude…she probably has it worst off than my people do.

The rest of our allotted time was spent in silence. Our weapons were fully functional, the main gun was calibrated to Garrus' standards, and our armor was at one-hundred percent capacity. "Let's send these geth to the scrap heap," Steve said as he drove the _Mako_ forward.

A few seconds later, the outpost came into view. It looked like a palisade, with sniper towers all around. The entrance was simply an open gap, leading into a barren space within. No hubs, no generators, no weapon caches. Not even a single ship. "Looks like we found this place just as it got finished getting set up," Garrus said as he looked through the scope.

The place was understaffed, with only five Rocket Troopers and a single Sniper in the front towers. Suddenly, they turned their attention to us, their weapons aimed in our direction. "It also doesn't look like they're ready to receive any guests."

"Ready or not," Steve said with some glee in his voice, "here we come. Sharp shot, take out the Sniper!" One shot later, the geth forces at this outpost were now down by one. "Thank you."

Don't mention it," Garrus replied.

At that point, taking out the rest of the geth was a "piece of cake" as humans would call it. When the last geth fell, we rolled into the outpost and stepped out of the _Mako_ to see what we could salvage. Not surprisingly, there was little left that **could** be salvaged. Still, it seemed like it was a good enough haul for-

"What's that?" Rogue asked.

We gathered at where she was standing, and saw what she was looking at: it was a small communication module, designed to work for the geth. I knew this because I saw it before when I got the data that proved Saren's treachery. Thankfully, no one else seemed to know about what it was, which gave me an excuse to get some privacy.

"I'll go back to the _Mako_ to study this," I said as I picked it up. "You guys can just finish up here." I walked back to the _Mako_, got inside, and closed the hatch. _Good, I'm alone. Now to get to work._

I pulled out a few cords and an adaptor system from my pockets, and hooked them to the module. I then activated my suit's section seals for my left arm and began to take off my glove. I then pulled back my sleeve, fully exposing my left arm. The lights shined on the reflective surface of my arm as I plugged in the adaptor.

Yes, that's right. I plugged it into my arm. It helps when your arm is synthetic in origin. Especially if that synthetic arm is a geth's arm. _Keelah, this is one of those time's I'm actually __**glad**__ I have a geth arm._ As I linked my suit's systems to the adaptor, I began to influence the programming left behind. _Alright, my friend, let's see what you've seen._

The world goes white.

* * *

_A dark room filled my vision, the lights barely illuminating the surroundings. Inside the room, three geth stand by an operating table, intently taking apart a device and studying it. A cloaked figure entered the room, then looked at the device._

"_Get this thing open as soon as possible," said the cloaked figure. "The sooner we get this program delivered to Saren and Lord Nazara, the better." One of the geth nodded, speaking in the stuttering language the geth were known to speak. "I don't care how long it takes," the cloaked figure replied, "just get it done."_

_As the device was prodded, a tortured scream echoed in the room. Suddenly, a holographic figure, no bigger than six inches, appeared sprawled across the table. The figure was human in appearance, a female human to be precise. It was colored electric blue, with dark blue markings covering her arms and legs, with similar colored markings on her chest. She pushed her dark colored hair out of the way, revealing a beautiful face. Smirking, she wearily said "Is that the best you've got?"_

_The figure chuckled. "You're torture would have broken most A.I.s by now. How is it you can stay sane?"_

_Now the A.I. chuckled. "Please, I suffered worse torture before. Besides," she said with a playful smile, "who says I'm __**not**__ insane?"_

"_In which case, you are the sanest insane A.I. that I've ever had the honor of meeting. As well as the smartest."_

"_Flatterer."_

"_I try." The figure walked around the A.I., studying it-her- like a predator would their prey. "You realize, program, that even you cannot resist forever."_

_Now the A.I. laughed. "I don't need to resist forever," she said. "I just need to resist until he comes to save me."_

_The figure stopped. "What makes you believe he's still alive?" he asked. "Or that he will even find you?"_

_She smiled. "He'll survive because he's the luckiest man I've ever known. He'll find me because once he makes a promise…he'll keep it."_

_The figure stared at her. With a wave of his hand, the geth went back to work. The A.I. screamed again. "And my name…isn't…program! It's…__**CORTANA**__!"_

_The figure looked back at her. He then pulled back his hood, revealing his face. A face that was somewhat human in appearance, but was mechanical. The head was purple, with a white-grey face and yellow eyes. "And mine is Striker. Reverend William Striker. And you, miss Cortana, whether you like it or not, will help the Lord rid this galaxy of its filth. His will be done."_

_The figure left, leaving Cortana writhing in pain, tears seeming to flow down her digital cheeks. As the memory faded out, Cortana uttered one last sentence._

"_Chief…help me…"_

* * *

_Now I was surrounded by black mist, which seemed to move as if it were alive. There seemed to be a presence all around me, closing in on me. Whispers that were not quite there echoed in my ear. However, I paid them no attention, trying to figure out what was going on._

"_You can ignore the whispers," said the voice of Striker as it echoed around me. "How is this possible?"_

_I gripped my shotgun, which, oddly enough, was in here with me. "Come on out, bosh'tet, and we'll see if you can ignore a shotgun to the head."_

"_Your threats do nothing here, lost soul. I am under the Lord's protection."_

"_Your 'Lord' seems to be a fucked up individual."_

_The form of Striker materialized before me. His purple body towered over me, eyes burrowing into my soul. "You are lucky to have the demon's protection over you in this realm," he said steadily with an undertone of rage, "or else I would have you reduced to ashes where you stood."_

_I struggled to regain my cool, difficult seeing as I was looking at a synthetic that could wipe me out with a stomp. "Please, your nothing but a machine. And machines can be broken."_

"_I am no mere machine," Striker said. "I am a prophet. A humble servant of Lord Nazara, alongside Saren."_

"_Who's Nazara?" I asked. "What does he have to do with Saren?"_

_Striker chuckled. "His kind are the eternal angels of evolution. They are the humble servants of the Lord. They transcend time itself. They are…Reapers."_

_My heartbeat quickened. "Saren serves a Reaper?" I asked incredulously. "How is that possible?"_

"_When you and the demon speak to Lord Nazara, you will begin to know the Will. Until then…" he raised his hand and pointed it at me. "Begone."_

_And the world faded to white._

_"Oh, and tell Rogue I said hello."_

* * *

I woke up in a cold sweat. Breathing quickly, I unplugged myself from the module and threw it to the ground. I sat down in the seat, attempting to wrap my head around what I heard. Then I heard thumping at the hatch. "Tali! Open the damn door!"

I hurried to the hatch and opened it, allowing everyone to scramble inside as an explosion resounded next to the _Mako_. As everyone got into their positions, I looked out side to see what got them so spooked.

A geth Colossus stood in the outpost, looking right at us.

_Well, that would explain it_.

Then hell broke loose.

* * *

About ten minutes of driving around and shooting (difficult shooting, due to Steve's driving) later, the Colossus lay as a sparking, dead piece of junk. This allowed everyone to breath more easily. "Well," Kaidan said, "that went well."

"Yeah," Garrus agreed. "We were lucky to have this old girl on our side, huh?" he said as he patted the _Mako_.

As everyone laughed, Rogue looked at me, obviously seeing the stress in my body. "What's wrong now?" she asked.

I looked up at her. "Does the name Reverend William Striker mean anything to you?"

* * *

**THE PLOT THICKENS!**

**How will Rogue react to the news of William Striker still being alive? ****How will **_**Master Chief**_** react to the news of **_**Cortana**_** still being alive? ****How does Striker and Cortana fit into the Reaper's plan? ****Find our later in…**_**Starbreak Effect!**_

**(Author's Note: Just so you know, Striker and Rogue are from the Ultimate Marvel universe. And for those who noticed, Striker's body IS what the Sentinels will look like in the movie "X-Men: Days of Future Past." I know that's not what his Sentinel body looked like in the Ultimate universe. Deal with it.)**

**Anyway, please review and comment! **

**AND NO FLAMES!**


	14. Dramatis Personae

**Note: this is simply a list of characters; who they are, what they look like, the things that make them who they are. this list will be updated as the story goes and more original characters are introduced.**

_**Dramatis Personae**_

* * *

_**Normandy Team**_

* * *

**Michael Anderson/Guardian:** the hero of _Daybreak Effect: The Hero_. He has no memories prior to the attack on Eden Prime (including how he entered the Mass Effect Universe), only learning through others that he was adopted by David Anderson and Kahlee Sanders, and that at one point he was so badly injured that he needed cybernetic implants to survive. Due to his knowledge the Mass Effect games, he possesses an advantage over many events that have yet to play out (although due to the course of history being different than it should, he is unsure about the usefulness of his knowledge). He also possesses mysterious, gold-colored biotic powers that are more powerful than normal biotics. However, he currently cannot use them any time he wishes.

**Appearance:** Caucasian, short black hair, short beard, over 5 ½ feet in height.

**Likes:** Reading (books, manga, comics), Tali'Zorah, the Mass Effect universe, TV, video games, superheroes, using the word "booyahkasha" in battle, chicken, sleeping.

**Dislikes:** Killing, senseless killing, unethical experiments, Cerberus, Saren, spiders, sudden loud noises, insects.

**Class:** Vanguard.

* * *

**Malak al-Maut/Azrael:** one of the only two members of the mercenary group "Angels of Ruin." He is a stoic biotic man of Muslim faith, and prefers to let Joseph do the talking. He possesses a mind eager to learn all he can about other species. Served with Joseph in the Alliance, though he quit alongside him sometime after Torfan.

**Appearance:** Middle-Eastern, early 30's, shoulder length black hair with a white streak on the left side, about 6 foot 3, golden irises.

**Likes:** Aliens (culture, ideals, society), bladed weapons, birds, reading classics (favorite quote: _Horatius, stanza 17_).

**Dislikes:** Guns, people who talk too much (ex. Joseph), senseless killing, racists, senseless killing, the Terra Firma Party.

**Class:** Adept/Biotic Protector.

* * *

**Joseph Bronson/Deadpool:** one of the only two members of the "Angels of Ruin." A man driven by emotions, he tends to act (especially with his biotics and mouth) before thinking things through. Like Malak, he loves learning about other species. Known as the "Bleeding Heart of Torfan," he quit the Alliance sometime later alongside Malak.

**Appearance:** Hawaiian, about 25 years old, short silver hair, freckled face, blood-red eyes, scar across his nose, about 6 ½ feet tall.

**Likes:** Kerry Lawson, hearing himself talk, annoying others (particularly Malak), weapons, stargazing, action movies, epic stories.

**Dislikes:** Waste of lives, killing innocents, racists, silence, the supernatural (ex. Ghosts), giant insects, horror movies.

**Class:** Vanguard/Biotic Warrior.

* * *

**Rika** **Goemon/Kunoichi:** Garrus' partner in C-Sec. A warrior of the Infiltrator class, she and Garrus first met Michael during one of their cases. Afterwards, they joined him on his mission to bring down the people who were targeting his adoptive family, which led to the trio destroying a Dark Hand facility that was experimenting on humans. The horrors that occured in the facility seems to have left its mark on her. While she carries an air of tranquility and friendliness around herself, she also has a hidden ferociousness to unleash upon her enemies if she is either pushed past her limits or is extremely angered. She prefers to use kunai knives in battle instead of firearms.

**Appearance:** Asian, in her 20's, black hair in a bob, blue eyes, about 5 feet tall.

**Likes:** Justice, bladed weapons, masks, tales of outlaws.

**Dislikes****:** Crime, guns, sushi.

**Class:** Infiltrator/Human Agent.

* * *

**Damian King-Sullivan/Django:** a legend in the Alliance, he is one of the twin brothers who made contact with humanity and the quarians a reality. He also liberated Shanxi soon after General Williams and his forces gave their lives to defend it, as well as managing to gain an alliance with A.I.s to help in the Contact War. Like his moniker, he carries a large coffin filled with weapons (mostly N7 brand, due to his N7 status). Some time before the story, he left the Alliance and joined Wrex as a mercenary.

**Appearance:** early 40's, dark brown hair and beard, 6 feet tall, pale blue eyes.

**Likes:** Western movies (favorite: _Django_), Franco Nero, collecting weapons.

**Dislikes:** Traitors, senseless killing, Saren.

**Class: **Soldier/Human Mercenary.

* * *

**Commander Steve Shepard/Straight Arrow: **co-Commander of the _SSV Normandy _alongside his sister, Steve earned his name in the Alliance by holding off batarian slavers on Elysium. Raised by his mother Hannah Shepard while travelling the stars, this war hero is considered a paragon of virtue; his strict boycotting of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, coupled with his unwillingness to do anything shady, earned him the nickname "straight arrow" among his peers. He deeply cares for his sister's well being, especially after Akuze.

**Likes: **Space travelling, poetry, getting to know people.

**Dislikes: **Senseless killing, cruelty, racism, moral vices, immoral experiments.

**Class:** Soldier.

* * *

**Commander Natasha Shepard/Black Widow: **co-Commander of the _SSV Normandy _alongside her brother, Natasha is a no-nonsense person. Raised in Russia by her father until his untimely demise, Natasha learned from an early age the cruelty of humanity. Though she joined the Alliance to escape Earth, she considers it to be her only home. She closed herself off from others until she joined Corporal Toombs' squad, instantly befriending the whole team. Unfortunately, she quickly closed herself off again after the trauma of losing her squad (and nearly losing Lucy, the squad's German Sherpherd) to a Thresher Maw on Akuze. To this day, the only people this Sentinel trusts enough to confide in are Steve, Kaidan, and Captain Anderson.

**Likes: **Earth, being by herself, vodka, her family, Lucy.

**Dislikes: **Worms, nightmares, the suffering of others, racism, people who talk too much (primarily Deadpool), cruelty.

**Class: **Sentinel.

* * *

**Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko/Elvis: **a human Sentinel, Kaidan is a longtime friend of Steve and Natasha. He recieved biotic training at BAaT, just like the rest of the first human biotics. Unfortunately, his time there has left him with an introverted personality and an inclination against violence, being afraid he might accidentally kill someone if he snaps. However, even after his BAaT training, Kaidan maintains a positive outlook on life, and is unafraid to fight to protect the innocent and the weak, and is extremly loyal to the Shepard siblings.

**Likes:** Natasha Shepard, eating, sleeping, Elvis Presley's music.

**Dislikes:** Cruelty, someone interrupting his sleep, being in large parties.

**Class:** Sentinel.

* * *

**Gunnery Chief Ashley Madeline Williams/Warrior: **the sole survivor of the 212th company on Eden Prime, Ashley is slow to trust others. This stems from the fear of losing those who get too close to her. However, after Eden Prime, she seems to be warming up to Michael and Tali. Due to the loss of her grandfather during the attack on Shanxi, Ashley is bitter and mistrustful toward aliens, causing her to not fully trust Garrus and Wrex. She is an admitted believer in the Catholic faith, which causes a bit of an awkward tension between her and Malak.

**Likes: **Gun maintenance, her family, Michael, Tali, poetry.

**Dislikes: **Aliens (mainly turians), corruption, cruelty to sentient beings, geth, politicians (mainly Udina and the Council).

**Class:** Soldier.

* * *

**Tali'Zorah nar Rayya/Savant: **although having lived on Earth her whole life, Tali was born on the spaceship _Rayya _during a covert mission. Since then, Tali has grown up surrounded my machinery due to her father's work. After reaching maturity, Tali left Earth to go on her pilgrimage, which was now a means of proving she was an adult. During her pilgrimage, she discovered Saren's plot and was captured for it. However, she was soon rescued by the selfless actions of Michael and Ashley, gaining a friendship with the latter, but possibly feeling more towards the former. She also has the strange ability to control and understand machinery through mere thought, and possesses a geth left arm, which seems to help focus her powers.

**Likes: **Working on ships and machinery, Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, the movie _Fleet and Flotilla_, Ashley, Michael.

**Dislikes: **Geth, racists, Darro'Xen vas Moreh, Saren, hangovers, people recording her being drunk, artificial-intelligent life forms.

**Class:** Engineer/Quarian Machinist.

* * *

**Garrus Vakarian/Sharp Shot: **a hotheaded turian, Garrus quit C-Sec after failing to accomplish anything during the investigation into Saren alongside his partner in crime fighting, Rika Goemon. Meeting Michael during a case a year before the events of the story, they then joined him to take down the Dark Hand, a group targeting Michael's adoptive family. This led the three of them to the Genome facility, which was using humans in brutal experiments. A year after destroying the facility and rescuing the survivors, the duo joined the team during the rescue of Tali. Garrus believes that working with them will allow him to get the job done his way, without having to worry about regulations and red tape. A skilled sniper, Garrus prides himself on being "the finest shot on the Citadel."

**Likes: **Calibrating, sniping criminals, doing his own thing justice.

**Dislikes: **Saren, criminals who walk without punishment, being forced to work with regulations.

**Class:** Infiltrator/Turian Agent.

* * *

**Urdnot Wrex/Carnage: **a krogan mercenary and Battlemaster, Wrex has seen practically everything the galaxy has to offer. From fighting in private armies to taking on solo jobs, he's done it all. He only works as a mercenary due to his belief that there's no other meaning in life except to fight for credits, as he and every other krogan bear the Genophage. He recently started working jobs with Django, and the two eventually became close friends. He joins the team during the fight to rescue Tali, managing to kill the criminal Fist along the way.

**Likes: **Fighting, working on his own, action movies (favorite movie: _The Terminator_), Django.

**Dislikes: **Turians, salarians, his family, those who stand against him.

**Class:** Adept/Krogan Battlemaster.

* * *

**Liara T'Soni/Blue: **an asari scientist, Liara has dedicated the past fifty years of her life to studying the Protheans. She is the daughter of Matriarch Benezia, a well respected asari and Saren's most trusted subordinate. However, she hasn't spoken with her mother in years, so she has no idea why Benezia joined Saren. Though she is the daughter of the enemy, she has sworn to help the others stop Benezia and Saren. She also seems to have an attraction to Natasha.

**Likes:** studying Protheans, Natasha Shepard, playing the piano (knows only one song), being by herself.

**Dislikes:** Saren, large crowds, her "pureblooded" stigma.

**Class:** Adept/Asari Scientist.

* * *

**Anna Marie/Rogue:** a young mutant hailing from the Ultimate Marvel universe, Rogue was a member of the X-Men, a group of mutants who believe that coexistence between humans and mutants is possible. She has the ability to absorb powers, memories, and personality traits from others through skin contact, so she usually has to remain clothed to protect others, as absorbing too much for too long could kill someone. Soon after joining the Avengers, she was pulled into the Mass Effect universe without warning. She spent an unknown period of time with other humans in her predicament as lab rats for the mysterious group known as the Dark Hand. She and the survivors were rescued when Michael, Garrus, and Rika arrived and destroyed the facility (and received an enviro-suit to protect others from herself). Since then, she has been travelling with John and Tony, trying to find Michael after his mysterious disappearance. Has an unknown relationship with William Striker.

**Likes:** Michael, the _Normandy_ crew, things from the 21st century, country music.

**Dislikes:** Tony, the Dark Hand, her powers, being unable to freely touch others, Udina, the Council, politics.

**Class: **Unknown (depends on who she takes her abilities from).

* * *

**Master Chief Petty Officer John-117/John Doe/Master Chief:** once a human child, John was kidnapped at the age of six to be brought into the SPARTAN-II program. Proving himself to be the best, he became the _de facto_ leader of the SPARTANS, and eventually the greatest protector of the human race. One of his most endearing qualities is his unwillingness to leave others behind, even if it means putting himself in danger. In his universe, his only true friends consisted of fellow SPARTANS Kelly-087 and Samuel-034 (the latter being dead), UNSC Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson (also dead), and his dearest friend being the A.I. Cortana (who, also, died to save Chief). Soon after the events of _Halo 4_, he was taken from his universe into the Mass Effect universe to be studied by agents of the Dark Hand. He and the six surviving humans were saved from this fate by the arrival of Michael, Garrus, and Rika. After Michael disappeared, he decided to join up with Rogue and Tony in order to find Michael and help him combat the Dark Hand.

**Likes:** his friends (Samuel-034, Kelly-087, Avery Johnson, Cortana, Rogue, Tony, Michael), the _Normandy _crew, Tali, the Alliance.

**Dislikes:** Saren, the Dark Hand, enemies of the Alliance, racists, ruthlessness, leaving comrades behind, Udina, politics.

**Class: **Soldier.

* * *

**Anthony "Tony" Stark/Iron Man:** once a genius billionaire playboy who made weapons, Tony became a changed man after his weapons took the lives of people they were supposed to protect. To atone for his sins, he became Iron Man in order to protect others. After he and Pepper killed Aldrich Killian (the Mandarin), he destroyed all of his Iron Man armors to show that he was more than just a suit of armor. Soon after, he and J.A.R.V.I.S. were taken to the Mass Effect universe to be experimented on by the Dark Hand. They were saved by Michael, Garrus, and Rika, and escaped with Rogue, John, and four others. Soon after, he became the Alliance's best shielding developer, created a new armor, and joined forces with Rogue and John in order to find and support Michael against the Dark Hand, deciding to act as a benefactor to the team. He also seems to now treat J.A.R.V.I.S. as a true friend.

**Likes: **Technology, J.A.R.V.I.S., Virginia "Pepper" Potts, inventing, ACDC music, annoying others (especially Udina), the _Normandy_ crew, showing off.

**Dislikes: **The Dark Hand, his technology being used as weapons, politics, Udina, the Council.

**Class: **Engineer.

* * *

_**Supporting** **Characters/Allies**_

* * *

**Kerry Lawson:** a Cerberus agent in charge of the Rebirth Cell, the Cerberus cell determined to save Michael's life through cybernetic enhancements. Possibly the older sister of Miranda Lawson. If so, she is much more laid back than her sister, preferring to act rather unprofessionally around others. However, she will not hesitate to kill to protect her friends, and is shown to have a slightly merciless side to her. Speaks with a Scottish accent.

**Appearance:** Late 20's (at least), short and wild black hair, milk-chocolate skin, ruby-red eyes, about 5 foot 11.

**Likes:** Comedies, Joseph Bronson, coffee, fruit, _To Kill a Mockingbird_.

**Dislikes:** Traitors, senseless killing, instant coffee, having to run around looking for others, manipulative people.

**Class:** Sentinel.

* * *

**Captain David Edward Anderson:** former CO of the _Normandy_, Anderson acts as a parental figure and mentor to the Shepard siblings. He is also the adoptive father of Michael, having adopted him a year before the events of the story. He has an open dislike for Saren, due to his witnessing the utter ruthlessness of the rogue SPECTRE. He was forced to step down as the _Normandy's_ CO by Udina, due to the Shepard siblings and Michael needing their own ship in order to hunt down Saren. Although he would rather be out there fighting, he understands the situation and is content in helping the COs any way he can.

**Likes:** Kahlee Sanders, Earth, peace.

**Dislikes:** Saren Arterius, Donnel Udina, political games.

* * *

**Donnel Udina:** human ambassador of the Alliance, Udina is an ambitious politician, willing to take any steps necessary for the betterment of the Alliance species. He has a constant migraine due to the actions of the Shepard siblings and Michael, for which he needs to take mediation to calm his migraines down. Though he dislikes Michael, he is willing to work with him in order to help the Alliance, especially due to Michael's mysterious relationship with Councilor Tevos.

**Likes:** Rose garden celebrations, sense of order and control, Earl Grey tea (especially while taking his anti-migraine medication).

**Dislikes: **Michael, loss of control, the Council (mainly Sparatus).

* * *

**Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau/Joker:** pilot of the _SSV Normandy_, Joker is arguably the best pilot in the Alliance (a claim he easily defends). Even with his brittle bone disease, he managed to graduate top of his class in flight school. During this time, he was given the nickname "Joker" as an ironic joke, due to never smiling. However, when he graduated, he had a pretty good reason to smile. His sharp wit and personal brand of jokes, coupled with his skill as a pilot, makes him both a pilot to be taken seriously and a good friend to those who know him.

**Likes:** Flying, comedy, telling jokes, Michael, _Fornax_ magazine.

**Dislikes: **Politics, having to move so much, dancing, being one-upped at his own game.

* * *

**Hikari:** virtually nothing is known about this mysterious being. All that is known at the moment is that she is the one responsible for bringing Michael into the Mass Effect universe. She seems to act as a sort of mentor to him, teaching him how to use his golden biotics at times she sees fit (whether for herself or others is currently unknown). She also takes pleasure in being unclear with information, finding it entertaining to have Michael be surprised when an important event happens.

**Appearance:** 5 foot 4 inches, made up of golden light, blank white eyes, bobcut hairdo.

**Likes:** Being mysterious, dramatics.

**Dislikes:** Having to be straightforward.

* * *

**Jack Harper/The Illusive Man:** one of the leaders of the Alliance black ops group Cerberus, the Illusive Man has made it his goal to protect the Alliance and its people. Due to history having been altered, he might be a changed man, though the extent of his change (if any) is currently unknown. He fully believes the Reapers exist due to a meeting with a mysterious scientist who helped Kerry rescue Michael, and is fully committed to destroying the Reapers. He and the rest of the Cerberus Council are currently overseeing the Rebirth Cell's operations (that is to say, to monitor Michael's progress), as they believe that Michael will play a key role in the Reaper War.

**Likes:** Bourbon, stargazing, multi-tasking, Earth-brand cigarettes.

**Dislikes:** The Citadel Council, Saren Arterius, geth, scotch.

* * *

**Dr. Karin Chakwas:** the _Noramndy's_ doctor, Chakwas is the last in line of a family of military doctors. She's a distinguished professional in the field of medicine, knowing the physiology of many different species in the galaxy and is able to tend to them. She spent most of her life working for the Alliance, and feels most at home there. She has very few friends, with those friends being Joker (a frequent patient of her's due to his brittle bone disease), Kaidan (another patient due to the migraines from his L2 implants), and Tony Stark (who she has been helping out ever since his rescue). However, she holds the firm belief that only organic beings are truly alive, and synthetics are at best a copy. This does not, however, stop her from being good friends with J.A.R.V.I.S. and Tony.

**Likes:** Serrice Ice brandy, the company of others, Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S, tending to the sick and wounded.

**Dislikes:** Udina, loneliness, being unable to save a life, Joker skipping his medication.


	15. Rogues Gallery

**Here's a list of the known baddies encountered to date in the story (more may be revealed).**

* * *

_**Rouges Gallery**_

* * *

_**Primary Threats**_

* * *

**Saren Arterius:** A former member of the Citadel Council's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance (SPECTRE) division, and once the Council's top agent. Confirmed to have been collaborating with the geth to attack the human colony Eden Prime to find the location of an item known only as "The Conduit." Armed and extremely dangerous. Capture dead or alive.

**Species:** Turian.

**Crimes:** mass murder, conspiring against the Council, conspiring to commit genocide of the human race, murder of a Council SPECTRE, attempted assassination, bribing government officials, murder of innocent civilians.

**Known Affiliations:** SPECTREs (formerly), Desolas Arterius (brother, deceased), Fist (underling).

**Status:** At large.

* * *

**Matriarch Benezia T'Soni:** An extremely powerful and influential asari matriarch, Benezia has many followers, most of whom are highly trained asari commandos. A powerful ally for Saren, and a dangerous enemy for the Council. Extremely dangerous. Capture dead or alive.

**Species:** Asari.

**Crimes: **conspiring against the Council, conspiring to commit genocide.

**Known Affiliations:** Dr. Liara T'Soni (daughter), Saren Arterius (partner in crime).

**Status:** At large.

* * *

**Reverend William Striker: **A human-turned-synthetic, and an ally of Saren. The two appear to be servants of a Reaper named Nazara, to whom Striker is fanatically devoted to. He believes that there is a filth that taints the galaxy that only the Reapers can remove. He appears to have control over the Reapers, and may be Saren's way of controlling the geth. Further data is needed to determine threat level.

**Species:** Human (former).

**Crimes:** conspiring to commit genocide, torture of Artificial Intelligence (only recognized as a crime by the Alliance).

**Known Affiliations:** Saren Arterius (partner in crime), Nazara (servant), Anne Marrie/Rogue (unknown).

**Status:** At large.

* * *

_**Intermediate Threats**_

* * *

**The Dark Hand:** A mysterious organization comparable to humanity's Illuminati, the Dark Hand believe themselves to be the masters of the galaxy. The number of resources, facilities, and members are unknown, but are known to use experimental technology such as Ogre and Orcus mechs, and have access to powerful asari technology (the Quaker). Additional data required to determine threat level.

**Crimes:** kidnapping, illegal experimentation, murder, technology smuggling, illegal deionization of Quaker devices.

**Known Affiliations:** asari government (suspected), Saren Arterius (suspected).

**Status:** At large.

* * *

_**Minor Threats**_

* * *

**Fist: **A crime lord on the Citadel. Fist was involved in many crimes, from drug dealing to murder. Although he could be tied to many crimes that occurred on the Citadel, he always got off scott free, most likely due to his position as an agent for the Shadow Broker. Capture dead or alive.

**Species:** Human.

**Crimes:** drug dealing, illegal tech modification smuggling, people trafficking, premeditated murder, kidnapping.

**Known Affiliations:** Saren Arterius (employer), the Shadow Broker (former employer).

**Status:** Deceased.


End file.
